Model UN in Chicago

Embry-Riddle students excel in many things, but not that many people know about the success of its Model United Nations Team.

With the support of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, the team was in Chicago for four days right before Thanksgiving to participate in a conference that included 2,000 students and some of the best political science programs in the nation.

“It is really nice to be able to see pilots and engineers compete with some of the strongest poli-sci programs of the country and excel," says Dr. Glenn Dorn, the team advisor and an associate professor for the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. “Half of our people were in their first conference and they all exceeded my expectations in every single way."

The goal of Model United Nations is to reproduce the structure of the United Nations while involving students as delegates from member countries. Each school is assigned one or two countries to represent.

For this conference, Embry-Riddle’s 18 team members represented Belarus and Switzerland in six different committees, discussing and solving issues such as regional disarmament or freedom of religion.

Nick Stapleton and David Nieremberg, respective President and Vice-President of the club, received awards for their performance as delegates of the Republic of Belarus in the fourth committee of the General Assembly, which discussed the conflict between Israel and Palestine as well as personal mines.

But why do engineers want to do those kinds of things?

"I feel like I need an escape to get away from Maths and Physics and work on other parts of my brain," said Isadora Thisted, a senior in Aerospace Engineering who joined the Model UN team this year. “I wish I had joined MUN earlier.”

Last semester, the MUN Eagles were in Harvard, where they met success with ERAU senior Freddy Elorza winning the outstanding delegate award in the Historical Russian Cabinet, beating delegates from Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy Leagues schools.

The team will be heading to its next conference in the spring.