The Pope John Paul II High School College Model United Nations (UN) Team recently participated in the Chapel Hill Model UN Conference. Despite being new to this conference, the team continued its winning ways, earning three awards and exceeding eighty members and thirty awards for the first time in one academic year.
On Friday, March 27th, 2009, 43 JPII students traveled nine hours to Chapel Hill to participate in their fourth Model UN Conference for the academic year. The conference was sponsored by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and included over 300 students from 20 high schools from North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The students were lead by College Model UN Advisor Mr. Paul Saboe, Librarian Assistant Lyndsey Saboe, and chaperone Mrs. Arleen Zola and included 12 who were new to the team as well as seasoned seniors Nick Cherry, Andreas Bunjor, Marie Jayme, Kayce Resha, Reed Gonzalez, and Jessica Roettger. The 43 students were almost half of the 82 members that were part of the team this year, the team’s largest membership ever.
During the three-day conference, the students simulated several UN committees, including the Security Council, General Assembly, and Economic and Social Council. The students also participated in simulations of two regional organizations, the European Union and African Union. Through these experiences, the students served as working diplomats, addressing such pressing issues as the Zimbabwe refugee crisis and the use of chemical and toxic weapons. The JPII students were actively involved in their committees, helping to write and sponsor 10 resolutions or about 83% of the resolutions that were passed by their respective committees during the conference. Nick Cherry, Marie Jayme, Maria Massa, Sarah Hartzheim, Avery Story, Tommy Joe Bednar, Mimi Glass, Robert Cawood, Andrew Jefferies, Wilhelm Bunjor, Andrew Scruggs, Hannah Vickery, Maggie Musacchio, Marie Jarrell, and Sarah Missimer all saw one or more of their resolutions approved by their fellow delegates. Overall, 15 of the 43 JPII delegates authored or co-authored a resolution.
As a result of their hard work, preparation, and diligence, the JPII students received three awards. Tommy Joe Bednar (China) in the Economic and Social Council and Wilhelm Bunjor (China) in the General Assembly each won a Best Delegate Award, only one of which was given in each of the five committees. Tommy Joe beat out fifty other delegates and Wilhelm beat out over one hundred and fifty delegates to garner this top honor. In addition, Nick Cherry (United Kingdom) in the Security Council won a Best Delegate Honorable Mention Award.
Overall, these three awards raised the team’s tally to 44 awards for the year, the most awards the team has ever earned in one year. In fact, up until this point, the most awards the team had ever won in a single year was 29, which is the amount that an average team might hope to win in twenty conferences due to the highly competitive nature of Model UN conferences. The JPII has, however, proved itself something special and has earned 174 awards at twenty-one conferences over seven years. Despite attending different conferences each year, the team has never failed to earn an award at a conference, an impressive feat in a competition where oftentimes 70 percent of the schools walk away empty-handed.
This conference was poignant for the team as it marked the last conference for senior Nick Cherry (United Kingdom), who has attended eleven College Model UN Conferences during his four years at Pope John Paul II High School and earned 17 awards, more than any other JPII student. Nick was a gifted public speaker (especially when he took off his red tie) and worked tirelessly to support and help the younger members of the team. For his steadfast dedication and excellence, Nick was selected to receive the 2008-2009 Trophy for Most Outstanding Contribution to the JPII College Model UN Team.