By Arya Namboodiri (October 11, 2003)
 

George Mason hosted its 16th annual Model United Nations conference this past Saturday. The conference, which included almost 400 students from 13 different schools across Northern Virginia, was one of the largest ever organized by George Mason. Mason started a new tradition by making the first conference of the year a one-day conference, to help those novices trying to launch into their Model United Nations careers. .  Secretary General Rahul Gupta opened up the conference with a bang of his gavel and then turned the podium over to Principal Robert Snee. The Secretary General, along with the rest of the club and Under-Secretary Generals Evan Cunningham and Kaitlin Bottock, organized the entire event, further aided by returning sponsor Mrs. Chinchek and brand new sponsor Ms. Chang.

Four of the nearly 400 delegates from many different  high schools work on the SOCHUM (Social Cultural Humanitarian Committee) resolutions. (Photo by Edmund Jong)

GMHS MUNC XVI included a number of familiar committees, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) directed by Arya Namboodiri and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) directed by Kaitlin Bottock. Topics ranged from the situation in Iraq discussed in the League of Arab States headed by Evan Cunningham, to child soldiers in the Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM), directed by Rawan Faramand. In Michael Duarte and Kim Kohlepp’s committee, the Special Political and Decolonization (SPECPOL) Committee, the discussion was centered on the uses of outer space and Algeria’s political unrest. 

Highlights of the event included the return of two Mason alumni, Josh Singer and Daniel Clark, to help direct the SOCHUM and DISEC committees, respectively. Clark’s fellow William and Mary student, Leila, helped co-chair SPECPOL. All three thoroughly enjoyed the conference and had many positive observations about the level of debate. Further aide came from Gupta and Cunningham who successfully staged crises in the UNSC. 

Other assistance for this conference came from both new and old club members. Younger Mason students from the middle school club and newer high school members acted as pages, carrying notes from delegation to delegation within committees and flooding the computer lab with new handwritten resolutions to be typed and copied. Richard Arndt, Edmund Jong, and Rachel Leonard braved the threats of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome by rushing to edit and type various resolutions and sending them off to committee. 

Awards were given to delegates by the directors based upon knowledge of the students’ assigned country and their ability to stick to the country’s policy on each issue. After individual awards were given, awards for schools were presented on the overall performance of their delegations. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology took the Secretary General’s Award for best large delegation, given to schools with 20 representatives or more, while Fairfax High School left with the Undersecretary General’s Award for small delegations, given to those schools bringing up to 20 representatives.

It was a hard-working and yet rewarding weekend for participating members of the club. As new club member Andrea Spakauskas said, "All the participants seemed very into it, and a lot of progress was made in each committee, especially in the Security Council."