College's Model United Nations Club Wins Best Large Delegation Award

October 29, 2013

SUNY Plattsburgh’s Model United Nations club received the Best Large Delegation award in the fourth annual Cornell International Affairs Conference at Cornell University, Sunday, Oct. 20.

The club sent a team of 12 delegates to the conference. Ben Rosner and Kevin Clayton both received Best Delegate honors — the highest individual awards given. Meanwhile, Shaun Reardon received an “Honorable Mention.”

More than 65 delegates from eight schools, including McGill University, Pennsylvania State University and Queens University, attended the conference.

“I didn’t expect us to get an award this year after so many delegates from other universities received more individual awards than us,” said Sapoon Dutta, a first-year participant. “When I heard they said ‘the Best Large Delegation award is going to SUNY Plattsburgh,’ I jumped up and down and screamed ‘that’s us!’”

Each year since it was established in 2009, club members have attended conferences at Pennsylvania State and Cornell. Although many individuals have received awards, this is the first time the club has received a delegation award.

Shirin Mehri, the president of the club, said, “When I first got the text they won the ‘Best Large Delegation,’ I screamed. It’s a huge deal; I couldn’t even imagine what went through their heads.”

The conference lasted for four days from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20. Each day, the committees held hour-long sessions discussing topics related to the committees. Clayton, who was in the Executive Council of the Roman Empire committee, described the committee as “chaotic” and “insane.”

“Each day we had different crisis to handle. We had a financial crisis, a war with Persia, plague and a political strike,” Clayton said.

Many attendees said the conference was fun and educational. Rosner said it was a hands-on experience in shaping public speaking, critical thinking and interaction with others.

With the funding support from the Student Association, the club is looking forward to going to more conferences, and it has received invitations from several universities including McGill University; University of California, Berkley; Yale University; Harvard University; the University of Virginia; and Queens University.