Chapel Hill High School’s Model United Nations team took home ten awards for individual delegation performances from a competition at Appalachian State University November 9-11, where the team also won the conference overall with the award for Best Large Delegation, and received four additional awards from a conference at University of Virginia’s (UVa) Charlottesville campus November 16-18.
Senior Robin Huang attended the Appalachian State conference. She won Outstanding Delegation with her partner senior Bryan Yam at Appalachian State and received Outstanding Delegate at UVa.
“[Appalachian State] has a chill environment. It’s not as competitive as other conferences such as Duke’s or UVa’s,” Huang said. “This year, we used it more as an introductory conference for the newer members.”
The Appalachian State conference allows for returning club members to brush up on their skills for the new year, according to senior Alexander Knight.
“[Appalachian State] helps [members] sharpen skills up from summer break, which is helpful, especially in such a low-key atmosphere,” he said.
Students prepare for a conference by thoroughly researching their assigned countries.
“Before a conference, I like to make a whole binder of research,” Huang said. “Most conferences require a position paper to be considered for awards, where you write your country’s position and history on issues, as well as solutions your country is proposing or would propose.”
Chapel Hill’s team won the Appalachian State conference overall, with the award for Best Large Delegation.
“We usually do well at [the Appalachian State] conference. We have a lot of very experienced team members,” Knight said.
Students noted that the UVa conference is generally considered more intense, as more school teams attend to participate.
“The UVa conference is probably one of the more competitive conferences we engage in,” Knight said. “Chapel Hill still did really well, even with the considerable increase in competition.”
Senior Lillian Rountree agreed that the UVa conference has a heightened competitive atmosphere.
“UVa is arguably ten times bigger seeing that 1,200 delegates from all over the country attend,” Rountree said.
As well as being a larger conference with more competitors, UVa a competition that upperclassmen are more encouraged to participate in than smaller conferences like Appalachian State.
“We typically encourage upperclassmen to attend this conference because the competitive environment is better suited for a more experienced delegate,” Rountree said. “The size and distance of the conference makes a smaller group easier to accommodate.”
The team will attend four more conferences during the school year. The next conference will take place on Duke University’s campus January 17-20. The conference is internationally recognized, as foreign teams take part in the event, including those from the People’s Republic of China and Canada.
