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Baylor's Model United Nations team wins overall best delegation

Dec. 3, 2008

By Amanda Ochoa
Reporter

Baylor's Model United Nations traveling team competed in the American Model United Nations Conference in Chicago last week and came back as the Overall Best Delegation (Best School), securing a spot in New York at the National Model United Nations Conference this spring.

"It felt great to win because we put so much effort and time in researching, understanding and discussing such hard, real-life topics," said Allison Campbell, North Fort Myers, Fla., senior and head delegate of the team.

The conference was held from Nov. 22 to Thursday. Over 1,400 college students and faculty from across the U.S. and around the world attended.

Baylor's traveling team was composed of 10 Baylor students and one Baylor Law School student. Members that participated in the Chicago conference included Tim Azevedo, Lucas Buckles, Allison Campbell, Christopher Dunn, Jaimee Gates, Stanley Kabzinski, Will Masters, Seth Reed, Jeffery Vitarius, Brook Worcester and Steven Zimmerman.

The American Model United Nations is an educational organization that allows students to participate in a professional simulation of the United Nations in the United States, according to the American Model United Nation Conference Web site.

"This organization is to basically prepare students for confronting real-life issues," Campbell said. "You learn about conflict resolution and negotiation and you honestly do gain a talent for public speaking, which is very important in the real world."

Months before the conference, each school was assigned a nation to research and become familiar with. At the conference the teams then discussed and debated about important issues with their nation's best interest.

"When you're assigned a country, it's difficult because it could be completely different then what you believe," Campbell said. "You have to learn why the people in your nation act and live the way they do."

Baylor's Model United Nations team members were assigned the Republic of Uganda. Each member was a delegate for Uganda during the conference; two delegates made up a committee that discussed different issues in a room full of hundreds of people at the conference.

Topics discussed among committees included malaria in developing countries, regional disarmament, external debt crisis and development, human rights in the administration of justice, mine action, international cooperation in combating transnational organized crime and corruption.

"Being able to debate and stick out over the other 250 delegates was the idea," said Will Masters, member of traveling team and Baylor Law student. "It's kind of an art to grab the attention of people."

Masters said he considers being a member of this organization as beneficial because it has helped him master parliamentary procedures and learn how to debate and negotiate, which he believes are important characteristics for the real world.

The National Model United Nations conference in New York will be held in the spring of 2009. According to the NMUN Web site, this is the world's largest, college-level Model United Nations conference and will include more than 4,000 delegates from five continents.

"The good thing about this organization is that everybody gets a fresh chance in the spring to participate in the conference," Campbell said. "All they have to do is try out for the traveling team."

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