Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s Model United Nations team attended the 25th iteration of Academy Model UN (AMUN) that was sponsored by the Bergen County Academies on February 1 and 2.
The conference was held after school from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on both days and eight delegates from BRHS took part. Delegates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York also took part in the conference.
The opening ceremony of the conference was met with applause as the guest speaker, UNHCR Social Media Manager Lorey Campese, spoke about the importance of broadening one’s perspective and viewing other people of the world without cultural relativism.
Delegates were assigned to committees, including the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL), Disarmament & International Security Committee (DISEC), Social, Cultural, & Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM) and The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
Over the two days, delegates worked together and debated on potential solutions and resolutions to solve their respective committee’s problems. Delegates utilized the principles of diplomacy and leadership that Model UN is founded on and placed heavy emphasis on their public speaking skills.
Junior Darsh Srivastava expanded on how AMUN helped develop his skills as a delegate.
“AMUN was a great conference that helped me develop teamwork and public speaking skills. I enjoyed it a lot and look forward to joining again next year,” he said.
On the final day of the conference, the awards ceremony was held after the resolution papers were presented and voted upon.
BRHS junior, Harsha Ahmed, won Best Delegate for his performance as the United Arab Emirates in SPECPOL, his second gavel in two weeks.
Sophomore Ayushmaan Mukherjee and freshman Kush Dave, who worked together to represent the United Arab Emirates in SOCHUM, won Honorable Delegates for their performance.
Junior Darsh Srivastava, who represented Vietnam in SPECPOL, and sophomore Angelo Sciara, who represented Ecuador in SPECPOL, both won a Verbal Commendation for their performance.
Sophomore Ronak Hunashimurad won a Verbal Commendation for his performance in CSW as Vietnam.
The trip was also attended by Mrs. Boosmann, a special education and science teacher at BRHS, who noted the “preparation and efforts that students put into doing their best in the conference, which has helped them become highly skilled delegates who can compete with the best of other schools.”
Yanessa Santiago, a Bridgewater-Raritan High School Science Teacher and the Advisor of the club, was pleased with the delegates’ performance at the conference.
“I consider myself lucky to be a part of the BRMUN journey. To see these students learn and grow from each other, is wonderful to experience,” she said.
As the club sees success at its second conference of the year, the delegates are set to attend the National High School Model United Nations Conference, the largest Model UN conference in the world, in March.
