CMC Brings Home Five Model UN Awards

From March 6 through March 10, six Claremont McKenna College students participated in the Los Angeles Model United Nations (LAMUN) Conference hosted by UCLA.  Other California institutions including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, USC, and UC Irvine also participated in the event.  Despite sending fewer delegates than many schools in its category, CMC was awarded the "Best Small School Delegation," and its student delegates took home first, second, and third place individual awards.  Ajay Sridhar ’12, Jasjeet Virk ’13, and Shriya Ravishankar ’14 each won Model United Nation's first place “Best Delegate” award.  Second place or “Outstanding Delegate” was awarded to Evan Lind, and Daniel Shane '13 took home a third place “Commendable Delegate” award.

Model United Nations conferences most often feature a blend of both ordinary UN committees and what are called “crisis” committees.  Delegates are assigned roles as either countries, individuals, or organizations.  In concert with delegates from other schools, these students then portray their given role in a committee.  For example, a CMC delegate may be assigned “China” in a committee focusing on combating global warming in the UN Environmental Program.  Or, as was the case at LAMUN this year, a delegate was assigned the position as head of the Long Beach Crips in a committee on Crips vs. Bloods.

Sridhar’s “Best Delegate” award was, impressively, his third in only five conferences.  The club president, Ajay leads the club both in best delegate awards and total awards received.  Both Jasjeet Virk and Shriya Ravishankar came away with gavels (given to the best delegates) in only their third college conferences, winning in committees with approximately 20 other delegates all having up to eight years of experience.  Evan Lind ’14 narrowly missed the top spot as “Ghost” in the Crips v. Bloods Committee, though he was recognized for his outstanding work in defeating another chapter in a freestyle rap battle.  It marked a fantastic end to Lind’s first year participating in MUN.

Also competing was Shrivats Khaitan ’14. Khaitan, who participated in his first ever MUN conference this past weekend, wound up having a role in perhaps the toughest committee in the entire conference.  He made a great contribution to earning CMC’s delegation award, which is based on the performance of every delegate sent by each school.  The Claremont McKenna College Model United Nations program improved immensely as the year progressed, and is poised to continue its success in the most prestigious college conferences next year.