Rider’s team won Outstanding Position Paper
awards in the General Assembly Third Committee, the
High Level Political Forum on Sustainable
Development, the World Food Program and the
International Atomic Energy Agency. The peer awards
went to Drew Gandham and Ruth Del Pino on UNICEF and
Jelani Walker and Georgiy Ginak on the Security
Council.
These awards were won at the national Model
UN competition held in New York City, which attracts
6,500 students, a majority of whom are international
and from non-U.S. institutions.
“Without the help of a number of Rider alumni
and the exceptional team leaders, Aasim Johnson,
Kenny Dillon and Jelani Walker, the team would
not have brought home Outstanding Delegation Award
and peer awards,” says Dr. Barbara Franz, the
faculty advisor of Rider’s Model UN team.
Rider’s Model UN team has won the top award
of Outstanding Delegation eight times out of the
last nine competitions.
The Model UN program encourages students of
all majors to interview and try out for a spot on
the team. Being that the team tackles a range of
issues that the United Nations is currently facing,
a diverse group of students plays to their
advantage.
Rider’s success in the Model UN competition
is well-deserved. Aasim Johnson, a senior
history major and head delegate of Rider’s
Model UN team, says the most challenging part is the
preparation for the event. After selecting the team
members and once a country is assigned the team
leaders help prepare students with the skills
necessary to compete as Model UN delegates at the
national competition.
Kenny Dillon, a double major in political
science and philosophy and team leader for Rider’s
Model UN team, agreed that preparing for the
conference can be challenging.
“Before the competition, the biggest
challenges are definitely time management, the
codification of our country’s position and the
formulation of novel solutions to complex problems
that align with the official position,” says Dillon.
Nerves were racing as the competition
approached. This year marked half a century of
Model UN competitions for Rider, and the team
was made up of a majority of students who had never
participated in the competition.
“There were high expectations for the
performance of this team and every delegate felt
this deeply, which created a strong social fabric
among them,” says Franz. “The new students brought a
lot of energy and excitement to the team that was
much appreciated by the returners.”
To help prepare for this year’s competition,
Franz and the team leaders organized a mock
conference on Rider’s Lawrenceville campus and
invited all universities in the vicinity that were
signed up for the national competition. With the
help of Rider's Model UN alumni, the event was
successful, and it helped ease the nerves of
performing in the actual competition.
“The point of the mock conference was to give
our delegates and other competing students a chance
to practice procedures and work on working papers,”
says Johnson. “From the schools that came, Rider’s
students did the best and I think that took the edge
off of the actual conference.”
Prior to the competition students are engaged
in area studies, comparative politics, international
relations and several other academic fields as well
as various methods of research in order to act in
“character” of their chosen country’s delegates.
Franz expects a lot from the team and they
deliver every year, along with taking much of what
they learned with them to their careers.
“Some students come to Rider because of this
program, however, there is no other program at the
University that consistently has alumni going to the
Ivy League and top law schools, the State
Department, other government jobs, and prominent
international government organizations and
non-governmental organizations,” says Franz.
Rider’s Model UN program continues to build
upon its reputable record it has amassed. Being a
part of the esteemed program gives students a chance
to take on responsibilities that they otherwise
wouldn’t experience.
For Johnson, Model UN has introduced him to
the teaching environment and how to productively
work with people who adamantly disagree with each
other.
“I found leading and teaching the class to be
the most helpful part for me because it was
difficult to work with all the different
personalities during the year,” he says.
For Dillon, Model UN has provided him with
leadership opportunities and with the confidence to
speak publicly and defend an unpopular opinion for
the sake of his position as well as the ability to
calmly yet firmly navigate tense conflicts.
“I had a huge opportunity for personal growth
this year,” says Dillon. “I went into my committee
alone and was able to win a position paper award for
my individual work. I was new to the leadership role
this year, and I had the opportunity to guide some
newcomers in the right direction. I wouldn't give
this experience up for anything.”
By
Lauren Lavelle, The Rider News
From left: Jelani Walker, Aasim Johnson and
Kenny Dillon holding three of their seven awards
after representing Panama in the National Model
United Nations Conference.
Rider’s Model UN team
took home seven awards after representing Panama
in the National Model United Nations Conference in
New York City from April 9 to 13.
Now the most successful
Model UN team in Rider’s 50-year history due to
the abundance of their awards, the members of the
team credit their success to the rigorous
processes they had to go through in order to ready
themselves for the conference.
“We start to prepare for
the competition in the fall,” said senior history
major Aasim Johnson. “We have a rigorous
three-part tryout process. From there, if you are
chosen, we give you a position paper to work on
during winter break. During the spring semester,
we have class every Thursday night and we go
through everything you need to know for the
conference. We teach how to write in the Model UN
style, how to talk to other delegates and try to
persuade them on our country’s position and how to
give great speeches in a room full of people.”
Although the competition
was fierce, with over 100 colleges and
universities representing countries all over the
world, the students felt they held their own and
worked together in a way that brought home their
various victories.
“My partner and I wrote
a position paper that describes Panama’s views and
proposed solutions on the topics presented to the
World Food Program,” said junior global studies
major Jillian Montilla. “Our work on that got us a
position paper award, which we were so honored to
receive. For the conference itself, when you’re on
the train ride into the city, you can prep a
speech or two, but for most people, you’re at this
point where you kind of accept that you either got
it or you don’t, and thankfully, for the way they
trained us, it was the former.”
Along with their
numerous achievements, the delegates stressed the
experience they have gained from participating in
conferences and are confident their future
endeavors will be successful.
In particular, Johnson
said his training will help while running for
councilman in his hometown of Tinton Falls, New
Jersey.
“By participating in
Model UN, students get the leadership abilities
that you would want in any career or in life,”
said Johnson. “You work in big and small groups
with stressful people with agendas, you learn how
to write concisely and competently, you learn
public speaking and negotiating skills. The list
goes on.”
Montilla emphasized how
being on the team has shaped her college
experience.
“Coming onto the team,
you know you’re becoming a part of something
bigger than you,” she said. “You feel the demand
for excellence backed by a history that extends
half a century back and you’ve got to deliver on
every test, every class, every speech. With
leadership like we were fortunate enough to have
this year, official or otherwise, you learn to
stand, look a crowd in the eye and speak like you
never thought you could. The awards and the
recognition we have received have been a wonderful
cherry on top to everything Model UN has given us,
but getting those certificates wasn’t half bad
either.”
