Twenty-eight students represented Clark University’s Model U.N. team at the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference (HNMUN) in Boston, Feb. 17 to 20, competing vigorously in several committees and winning seven awards.
“Clark’s Model U.N. team has consistently performed well in the past years, and this year’s team has kept up that tradition of winning,” said Political Science Professor Srini Sitaraman, who is the team’s faculty adviser. “What is particularly interesting is that several first-year and sophomore students led the charge in winning some highly coveted awards.”
Many prestigious schools from around the world competed at the recent conference, and in the contest’s informal “power rankings” Clark ranked in the top ten, along with Yale, the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), Boston University, the University of Pennsylvania, as well as schools from Venezuela and the combined universities of the Netherlands.
The Clark team represented France. Jun Ha Marcell Lyu ’13 and Da Eun Lee ’12, both representing the European Union, were named Outstanding Delegates.
Students who received honorable mentions in their committees included Minh Mai ’11 and Tanya D’Lima ’11 in the Disarmament and International Security Committee; Yohan Senarath ’14 in the Historical General Assembly, Elena Stocchiero ’13 and Jessica Chung ’12 in the Social and Humanitarian Council Committee of the U.N. General Assembly; Steve Harkey ’13 and Shane D’Lima ’14 in the Human Rights Council; Bridget Healy ’13 and Serena Pham ’11 in the U.N. High Commission on Refugees; and Michael Harper ’12 in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Overall Clark was placed in the top-ten award winning schools in the 57th Harvard National Model United Nations Conference (HNMUN 2011), which was attended by 3000 delegates from 200 universities and colleges from 35 countries.
Keynote speakers for this year’s HNMUN Conference were Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child, and Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.
Earlier, in preparation for the conference, the Clark Model U.N. Team visited the U.N. Headquarters in New York and the Permanent Representative of the Republic of France to the United Nations on Feb 7. During that visit the team had an unplanned encounter and brief visit with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who exchanged pleasantries with the Clark team and posed for a group picture.
The Clark Model U.N. Program is a realistic simulation of the activities of ambassadors and representatives of different member nations who serve in the different agencies of the United Nations. Students assume the role of ambassadors or special U.N. representatives of the various member nations. They participate in live simulations of the U.N. Security Council, Economic Social and Cultural Council, and Special Middle East Summit. The Clark Model U.N. Program is sponsored by the Political Science Department and the Clark University Student Council. Professor Sitaraman has been the faculty adviser and instructor of this active learning course since fall 2003.
Since its founding in 1887, Clark University in Worcester, Mass., has a history of challenging convention. As an innovative liberal arts college and research university, Clark’s world-class faculty lead a community of creative thinkers and passionate doers and offer a range of expertise, particularly in the areas of psychology, geography, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. Clark’s students, faculty and alumni embody the Clark motto: Challenge convention. Change our world.
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