This year, the University of Waterloo Model United Nations (UWMUN) made club history when their delegates came home from the North American Model United Nations (NAMUN) conference with a total of three awards.</p>
Andres Perez-Vilarino, a delegate in the Joint Crisis committee, and Lara Jeftic, a delegate in the Security Council, won awards in the “Best Position Paper” category at the conference that took place between Feb. 19-22. The third prize was awarded to Mariam Kabli-Flifli. The delegation took home the “Outstanding Delegate” award.
Ana Krstanovic, director of education for UWMUN, said part of their success at the conference could be attributed to their newly-narrowed focus and revamped vision and goals.
“UWMUN has been around for a long time, however, this term we decided to revamp it with a new vision and new goal, which is to create a dedicated team that will represent us in external conferences,” she said.
Krstanovic explained that although it was a great accomplishment for UWMUN to collect so many awards, they are most proud of the specific conference in which they received such distinctions. Established in 1984, the NAMUN conference is one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious Model United Nations conferences.
“NAMUN is the most important Canadian MUN conference, where delegates from the best universities from the United States and Canada come,” she said. “It is very competitive but an excellent experience, which is why we are very proud that for the first time the University of Waterloo bagged so many awards.”
Krstanovic and two other executives — Darya Berezhnova and Mariam Kabli-Flifli — worked hard on training the delegates to prepare them for the conference. Their focus was on developing public speaking, leadership, negotiation, and writing skills through fun activities.
Krstanovic has ambitious aspirations and plans for UWMUN’s future. She hopes to plan and host UW’s very own instalment of the MUN conference in the future.
“I can’t tell you much yet. Top secret!” she said.
The UWMUN plans to attend the Royal Military College Model United Nations conference from March 19-22. One of their goals over the upcoming year is to attend more “competitive” conferences — including Harvard’s National Model United Nations.
