Dawn Bonker
Model UN team members took a quick break from class to gather in front of the Julianne Argyros Fountain in the Ambassador George L. Argyros ’59 Global Citizens Plaza. In back row (l-r) are Aly Gideon, Nicole Sapak, Sam Schleier, Professor Donald Will, Erika Sanders, Diana Odero, and Bobby Konoske. In front row (l-r) are Cambria Findley-Grubb, Cate Browning, Lakshmi Odedra, Guadalupe Carrasco and Olivia Carbone.
Chapman University’s Model United Nations team had a great fall semester in regional competitions. Consisting of mostly new members, the team competed at October’s Orange County MUN and faced competition from delegations representing several UC, Cal State and community college campuses. Lakshmi Odedra, representing India, won the award for Outstanding Research in UNICEF. Mark Johnston, representing China, also received an Outstanding Research award, and along with Danielle Butterfield, received the Outstanding Delegation award for the General Assembly Plenary. Bobby Konoske won the award for Outstanding Delegate for his representation of China in the General Assembly Second Committee. Thus, Chapman received two out of four research awards.
In November the team traveled to UC Santa Barbara and again garnered several awards, including three out of the six Best Position Papers. These went to Erika Saunders for the European Union Council, representing Belgium, Cambria Findley-Grubb for the Crisis Committee, representing North Korea, and Francesca El-Attrash for the Security Council, representing Turkey.
Also, Bobby Konoske received one of a very few Honorable Mentions for Excellence in Diplomacy for the General Assembly First Committee. Among the schools competing at the conference were several UC campuses, the University of Southern California, University of Puget Sound and the University of San Diego.
Now the team is preparing for the National Model UN Conference to be held in New York City in the spring. At last year’s national competition, Chapman was one of 32 teams out of nearly 200 to be recognized for Outstanding Position Papers.
The team is led by Donald Will, Ph.D., chair and Delp-Professor of Peace Studies, chair and professor of Department of Political Science, and associate dean of Wilkinson College.
Congratulations Chapman Model UN team!
[…] Headquarters. Students in Chapman’s Model UN program have been busy this school year competing in regional events and preparing for their role as the Jordanian delegation. While it is an academic simulation, the […]