This article was written by Sloane Kapit, class of 2019.
In their first appearance at the WashU Model United Nations (WUMUNS) competition, Heritage Model United Nations took home the top overall award and individual awards to spare. The team took a trip to St. Louis from Oct. 12-14 to compete in the first all-crisis committee conference in multiple years.
Washington University at St. Louis was the first traveling trip of the year, and the delegates put hours of prep into each of their respective topics.
Seniors Max Zintsmaster, Rayyan Merchant, Mikhail Ben-Joseph and Eric Bazail and junior Aamir Lacewala all came out on top, winning Best Delegate awards. Seniors Thomas Lovegren, Emily Moon and Daniela Velez, along with juniors Alex Yang and Jacob Kasner received Outstanding Delegate titles. Seniors Sofia Godoy and Jorge Rivera, junior Jackson Arnberg and sophomore Naila Charania won Honorable Delegate awards. Senior Shubhum Giroti and junior Annabella Lugo took home Verbal Commendations. Aside from committee-based awards, Bazail also earned the competition-wide award for Best Position Paper. This combination of awards allowed Heritage to beat out St. Ignatius School, a habitual Best Delegation award winner at past WUMUNS.
“Winning Best Delegation was a huge deal for us,” said Model UN co-president senior Mikhal Ben-Joseph. “It’s the team award that really matters the most because it’s the collective effort of everyone on the trip.”
Aside from actual competition, the team engaged in other activities during the trip. They took a tour of WashU’s campus, ate at Rosalita’s Mexican food and enjoyed a tour of the city museum. They also got to enjoy spending time with Heritage alumni and former Model UN delegates Harrison Arnberg and Andrew Bass, who are both current students at WashU.
