Model UN Team Wins Awards

Westminster College’s Model United Nations (UN) team continued its award-winning tradition recently by taking home several awards at the nation’s oldest Model UN competition in St. Louis, Missouri.

Three students won a total of three awards.  All three students represented the country of Nepal at the Model UN conference.

Lejla Dervisevic and Jacques Erasmus won two awards, “honorable mention” and the “delegates’ choice award” for their work on the General Assembly Third Committee which focuses on social, humanitarian, and cultural issues.

Johnny Lee won the “outstanding delegate award” for his work on the Economic and Social Council.

Westminster took 13 students to the event which was held from February 10-13, 2016 and the Blue Jay Model UN team represented both Nepal and Sri Lanka.  The Model UN team is directed by Dr. Kali Wright-Smith, assistant professor of political science and Westminster College class of 2004.

“I could not be more proud of our students.  They demonstrate year in and year out that Westminster is not only committed to developing leaders in a global community, but we are also committed to the highest standards of excellence in our Model UN program,” said Dr. Wright-Smith.

Westminster’s Model UN program was founded in 1981 by former German professor Dr. Linda Pickle. It has developed a reputation as one of the best programs in the Midwest and has had multiple award winners at various Model UN conferences in recent years.

The Midwest Model United Nations conference in St. Louis is the nation’s oldest competition.  It started in 1962.

Westminster’s Model UN program is housed in the Churchill Institute for Global Engagement.  The Institute is home to two global majors (transnational studies and international studies), multiple co-curricular programs (including the Model UN program and the Clinton Global Initiative), the annual Hancock Symposium, the Green and IBM lecture series, the college’s honors program, and a robust study abroad program.