Fresno State’s inaugural Model United Nations team returned home with multiple wins after attending the 73rd Model United Nations of the Far West Conference in San Francisco April 19 through 23.
Fresno State’s team consisted of: seniors Thomas E. Bell, Aidan Boyles, Jade Fuller, Tamia Fuller, Jesus Lopez and Julian Lopez; and juniors Lili Boch, Mackenzie German, Osvaldo Hidalgo, Nathan Imperatrice and Zachary Lopez; and graduate student Ahmed Metwally.
Fresno State’s team represented China, Honduras and Belarus and brought back three awards. The delegates for Belarus and China won achievement awards in the “art of diplomacy.” The Security Council delegates won an Outstanding Resolution award for having “demonstrated excellence in cooperation, creative and critical thinking and legislative writing.”
The team of 12 students prepared for the four-day conference through a course designed by political science professor Dr. Nataliia Kasianenko and taught by Kasianenko and Dr. Melanie Ram. Both Kasianenko and Ram coached the team. Ram accompanied the students to the conference.
About two dozen universities attended the competition in San Francisco – the birthplace of the United Nations. Universities in attendance represented 72 of the U.N.’s 193 sovereign states. Each student in attendance represents a country in a U.N. committee at the conference. Participants at the conference negotiated resolutions on topics related to this year’s theme, human security.
“Many of the students at the conference from other universities have participated for two or three years in a row, so we were certainly excited that our students had such strong and active participation in all of their committees in our inaugural year,” Ram said.
Model United Nations is a simulation program for college students that has been around since 1951. College students across the west participate in model sessions of the United Nations in an effort to advance and understand the principles and means by which international relations are maintained.
Model United Nations of the Far West is one of the oldest and longest running Model United Nations organizations in the world.
Ram said Fresno State’s team and its returning students hope to participate again in 2025 when the theme will be sustainable development goals.
