You reached this page through the archive. Click here to return to the archive.

Note: This article is over a year old and information contained in it may no longer be accurate. Please use the contact information in the lower-left corner to verify any information in this article.

Model U.N. team earns honors at national conference

By Catherine Monson '12
December 4, 2009

In a realistic simulation of a United Nations conference held Nov. 21–24 in Chicago, a team of St. Olaf students earned two prestigious awards for their presentation — a first for the St. Olaf Model United Nations (SOMUN) Club.

Members of the St. Olaf Model United Nations Club include (standing, from left) Elyssa Black '11, Eric Becklin '12, Nicholas Kang '12, Signe Knutson '11, Annemarie Smith '12, Joel Richert '11, Eric Sheforgen '11, Bryan Wells '12, (kneeling, from left) Lin Cong '12, Hannah MacDougall '11, and Stephanie Abbas '11.

The American Model United Nations (AMUN) International Collegiate Conference is held each year in Chicago, drawing more than 1,500 college students from nearly 100 different schools across the United States. About 10 members from the SOMUN club attend this conference each fall, which is the main function of the student organization. Prior to the conference, they hold weekly meetings and research their chosen country.

This year, the 11 St. Olaf participants chose to represent the Islamic Republic of Iran, which made the conference a challenging but exciting experience. “It was fun,” says SOMUN co-president Signe Knutson, “because Iran was such a power player, and a very controversial member of the U.N. to represent.”

Each country’s team at the conference forms one delegation, which branches off into separate committees that meet with committee members from other countries. Altogether, each committee consists of about 200 students, and at the end of the conference they all vote for the country that acted most “in character,” or the country that best showed well-informed and appropriate responses to issues presented. These awards were given to St. Olaf members of the Disarmament Committee and the Security Council, which included sophomores Eric Becklin, Bryan Wells, and Annemarie Smith.

Knutson notes that many students from other schools attend the conference for a class and are graded on their performance. For the St. Olaf team, however, participation is based solely on students’ interest level. “We are motivated to do well at these conferences because of our passion and interest in these United Nations simulations, and not because of grades,” she says.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.