On Nov. 11th, The Storm King School’s Model UN team traveled to Bard College to decide the fate of the world—or at least try to.
They joined more than 200 high school students from across the region at the fourth annual BardMUNC (Bard College Model United Nations Conference) in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. BardMUNC is the Hudson Valley’s premiere Model UN conference.
This year, Storm King was represented by eight talented students: eighth grader: Alisdair Neighbors—who, due to his age, was given a special waiver by Bard in order to participate—sophomores: Naunet Leonhardes-Barboza, Sophia Grausso, and Pierce Pramuka; juniors: David Lu, Uzay Polat, and Asia Raacke; and senior: Can Tetik
Storm King student Pierce Pramuka, building alliances with other delegates during the BardMUNC 2017 Disarmament and International Security (DISEC) Committee proceedings
In their first model UN experience Sophia, Alisdair, Uzay, and Asia all took on very fast-paced committees with challenging subjects. They all showed great skill and poise, representing their designated countries well.
Returning for their second BardMUNC conference were Naunet, Can, and David. These three students utilized their experiences from last year and were quickly recognized as strong delegates by their colleagues. Naunet in particular stood out in her role as the representative of Hungary in the European Union.
For sophomore Pierce Pramuka, the conference marked his third time at BardMUNC and his first time winning Bard’s coveted Outstanding Delegate Award. He represented Côte d’Ivoire and was clearly one of the most knowledgeable and effective delegates in the General Assembly (a committee made up of 60+ students). During the proceedings, Pierce was able to build a broad alliance with other delegates, uniting them behind his proposed resolution which pressured the post-Soviet states to enact and enforce national laws preventing the illegal trafficking of small arms and light weapons.
Storm King is very proud of our talented team of young delegates and their success at the BardMUNC. We would like to send out a special thank you to faculty Mick Hauser, Cathy Hecht and Maddie Schade for their continual mentorship of the SKS Model UN team.
In addition to our success at BardMUNC, we are also pleased to announce that our Model UN team will participate in the National High School Model UN (NHSMUN) Conference, March 2nd – 4th in New York which culminates in a session at the United Nation’s General Assembly. To compete in the NHSMUN, the most competitive Model UN Conference in the nation, each school must earn an invitation. According to faculty member Mick Hauser, our success at last year’s BardMUNC and our experience assisting in the West Point Model UN Invitational helped Storm King secure a place at NHSMUN Conference 2018. Congratulations!
An image from NHSMUN 2017 held at the United Nation’s Headquarters