Sunday, November 26, 2023

Model UN - DC Trip

In early November, Elizabeth spent six days with her Model United Nations class in Washington, D.C., where they attended the National Model United Nations Conference for the Fall of 2-23 (NMUN DC).  Out of the conference, her class was kept very busy. After a six hour train ride, they immediately went to the Wilson Center for International Affairs, a think tank located in the heart of DC, where they met with representatives to discuss their work. After dinner, she went to see the monuments at night - specifically the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and WWII Memorial.

The next day, they went to the US Department of State, where they met with the desk officers of the countries her class was representing at the conference, Austria and Greece. They provided the students with background information on the topics set at the NMUNDC in order for the students to accurately represent their countries. After the State Department, her class sat for a briefing at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), discussion the workings of the IMF. They ended the day at the European Union Delegation to the United States, where officials discussed current events and their impacts on Greece and Austria. Before the conference began, the Greece team traveled to the Greek embassy, where they discussed their topics more in-depth with Greek representatives. They also had the rare opportunity to meet the Greek ambassador to the United States, Ekaterini Nassika.

The majority of the trip was spent at the conference, where Elizabeth represented the country of Greece in the Food and Agriculture Organization Committee, along with her co-delegate Nora. She was "in committee" for 18 hours over 1 1/2 days, where she led a large working group and successfully led a three-way group merger to create one of seven Draft Resolutions. Elizabeth and her co-delegates on the Greek team also won the highest award of the conference, Outstanding Delegation, for excellent diplomacy and cooperation. As there were over 1000 students at the NMUNDC, this was an incredible honor.

The MUN program at the University of New Haven is an incredibly prestigious class, well known across the country as the NMUN program to beat. Elizabeth was required to apply to the program and sit for an interview last spring. She spent multiple days throughout the summer and fall semester sitting for 12 hour zoom sessions and 4 hour class blocks in order to prepare for this conference. The conference itself was very competitive and, at times, cutthroat, so she was very pleased that all of their hard work paid off with numerous awards.







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