The Model United Nations team won best large delegation at the Northwestern MUN conference in Evanston April 11-14, securing its sixth consecutive win. The team also achieved an 84% placement rate for individuals.
Helen Kraemer, one of the junior captains, said the results made her feel good.
“It was nice to see the people that I’ve been prepping so hard for the entire year win individual awards and get more immersed in the activity and find a love within the activity as well as the club,” Helen said.
According to Alexander Saratovsky, the other junior captain, Northwestern was a special conference to prepare juniors for their senior year on MUN. Both junior captains were given complete authority of the team and were in charge of ensuring that the conference ran smoothly.
In addition, all team members were able to participate at Northwestern because of its proximity, which was not possible at previous conferences because of limited traveling capacity.
“We did four weeks of really intense prep, especially because this is the first travel conference for the freshman,” Helen said. “You really need to make sure that they were prepared and able to tackle committee and know their speeches extremely well.”
The diligent work of the captains and delegates paid off, with almost every member of the team winning an individual award.
Both junior captains are proud of how far the team has come compared to their ninth grade year in MUN, and they highlighted how much the importance of forming a supportive community has changed the team for the better.
Alexander said, “I really want to emphasize the culture change the team has had in the last year. Us realizing that you can win while also being happy and supportive of a team — you don’t have to sacrifice competitive record in favor of being positive and that positiveness has actually made us more successful because we wanna all see each other win.”
The team will have its final conference at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview on April 27.
