The weekend of April 21st was quite eventful for the Model United Nations club as they competed at the annual Cornell Model United Nation Conference (CMUNC). 36 Club members, including senior presidents Spencer Kaplan and Sammy Landino, made the trip up to Cornell and debated in various committees.
CMUNC is the last conference of the year for the club and a total of five awards were rewarded to Blind Brook at the conference. The Model U.N. Club presidents are Spencer Kaplan, and Sammy Landino and the advisor is Mrs. Nicole Simmons.
This year advisor Nicole Simmons made her return as club advisor from her two years of maternity leave. Starting with the Model United Nations club in 2009, the clubs development can be accredited to her.
“It kind of took us a conference or two to pick back up, but we ended up finishing this season with 21 awards, which is the second best in club history. When I started with the club it had never won a single award at any conference. So to win 5 awards is very impressive, when you look at the caliber of the other schools. ” Simmons said.
CMUNC is the most competitive conference of the year as the majority of the students are from schools that have MUN as a class.
“At these schools, it is not a club like Blind Brook, it is a class where kids get graded on their performance. The kids are receiving 40 minutes a day, 5 days a week of instruction. Whereas we meet once a week,” Mrs. Simmons explained.
Six students won awards at CMUNC, out of the 1000 students that were in attendance. Senior Sammy Landino and freshman Alex Weiss won the outstanding delegate award as a double delegation. Freshman Nicole Rosenzweig won the outstanding delegate award, as well. Honorable Mentions were awarded to junior Jared Bassett, junior Sarah Rogers, and sophomore Carly Cabot.
The board of Model U.N. which includes seniors Spencer Kaplan, Sammy Landino, Haley Feuerman, Bryan Weintraub, and junior Sam George have lead the club to break these records.
“We [the board] have been able to pass historic highs. This year we won 11 awards at one conference, which is higher than ever at one conference. We have done a lot more prep and debate sessions to make sure everyone is developing their skills,” Landino said. Those record-breaking 11 awards were won at the John Hopkins University Model United Nations Conference back in February.
Sammy Landino made Blind Brook history at the conference, breaking the club record for most delegate awards. Sammy has won nine awards in total, five of which were for best delegate.
“This year we took initiative, we had a purpose and we seized it. For me Model U.N. has been one of the only places in high school where I have been able to talk about the very pressing and prevalent political, economic and social questions. It is something that goes beyond the awards.” Landino stated.