UA’s Model UN Team Awarded at First Conference of the Season
- November 1st, 2021
- in International Main
With a strong start to the 2021-2022 season, the Alabama International Relations Club’s travelling Model United Nations team dominated at Florida State University’s first iteration of NoleMUN in September. After a long year of competing exclusively through online formats, the team was finally able to compete in a hybrid format, with eight delegates competing in person in Tallahassee, Florida, and twelve from in Tuscaloosa. Even with the time away from in-person competition, and a very young delegation, the 20 University of Alabama students proved that they deserve to be one of the top-ranked Model UN teams in the nation. The team spent the weekend debating a plethora of topics ranging from the State Constitution of Florida to the international exploration of outer space, from the rights of mining workers in West Virginia to the issues that plagued the Court of Archduke Ferdinand I.
In total, the team won seven individual awards and received the Best Large Delegation award at the conference. This is the first Best Delegation award in the team’s history but will surely not be the last.
In the United Nations General Assembly Special Political and Decolonization Committee, Sophomore Helen Flemming was awarded Best Delegate (1st Place) for representing the United States, and Freshman Emily Smith received a Verbal Commendation (4th Place) for representing South Africa.
In Blood and Coal: The Battle of Blair Mountain, 1921, Junior Tyler Tannehill received a Verbal Commendation (4th Place) for representing Frank Keeney a leader in the United Mine Workers Association.
In A More Perfect State: The 1968 Florida Constitutional Revision Committee, Senior Gibson Gray and Freshman Bennett Ogle both received Verbal Commendations (4th Place) for representing Florida Politicians working to better their state government.
In Avatar The Last Airbender: The Blitz of Ba Sing Se, Junior Thomas Blackwell received the Outstanding Delegate Award (2nd Place) for his portrayal of King Bumi of Omashu.
In the Director’s Ad-Hoc, Senior and Alabama Model UN Head Delegate Christopher McCarthy received the Best Delegate Award (1st Place) for his portrayal of Jiang Zemin, President of the People’s Republic of China during the year 2000.
We are incredibly proud of our Model UN team and are excited to see their continued success as they prepare for future conferences at Boston University and Georgetown University.
UA’s Model UN team is a part of the Capstone International Center’s Alabama International Relations Club. The Model UN team is the cornerstone of the AIRC, the premiere student-led global affairs organization at UA that continuously provides opportunities for its members to learn, develop, fund community and make an impact at the Capstone and worldwide.