The Model United Nations team won the top award at each of two recent competitions.

At an in-person conference at Saint Ignatius College Prep Nov. 6, the team won Outstanding Large Delegation, and at the virtual Princeton Conference Nov. 11-14, the team won Best Large Delegation. 

Competing at Saint Ignatius, 14 ninth graders and sophomores placed highly in individual rankings, despite minimal competition experience.

“People had a chance to get their feet wet, and get a feel for the activity,” said Saul Arnow, secretary-general of U-High’s Model UN. “We were really happy that it paid off — people had a lot of fun, and they did well in awards.” 

A scoring miscalculation during the Princeton conference meant that the U-High team appeared significantly lower than their actual ranking: Best Large Delegation, the highest award in the category. 

“It’s the most competitive conference on the circuit,” Saul said. “Everyone on the team worked really, really hard, and all their hard work paid off. It was great. I’m glad we got that sorted out.”

The team attended the Princeton conference virtually because University of Chicago guidelines don’t allow for large group interstate travel, but Saul remains hopeful for the next set of competitions in February. 

“In person is a lot more fun. You get to see the people you are talking to face to face, give your speeches in front of everyone, which is great,” Saul said. “We are looking forward to going to in-person conferences as soon as possible. We are hoping next semester we can start.”