The North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN) hosted its fifty-seventh conference at Georgetown. Leaving the competition Feb. 13, Heritage MUN achieved the top 7 rankings overall and won 24 individual awards. Since this is the largest competition Heritage MUN attends, the awards felt different to attendees.
“What makes NAIMUN different from the other competitions is how prestigious it is. It stands for North American Invitational, and it’s the biggest competition our school goes to so it’s different because there’s more honor in going, and it’s more exciting when you win an award,” junior Naila Charania said.
Although NAIMUN brings in over 3,000 delegates and 40 committees, Heritage still holds a name and has a reputation at the conference at the conference junior Zaneer Mitha deems the “Superbowl of MUN conferences.”
“At conferences, many of the teams we met have heard about our school. Many delegates approach us asking for advice, while many are also intimidated by our reputation. While our team is often held with high expectations, we never fail to fulfill them at our conferences,” Mitha said.
Despite the high pressures that come with high rankings, some members feel that Heritage MUN creates a better environment for improvement than other schools.
“A lot of people think that being on such a high-ranking team comes with a lot of stress, but our school is different from that because while other high ranking teams put pressure on their members, our team is supportive and even if we don’t do well on one trip, we’re still encouraged to try again on another trip,” Charania said.
While this trip is often considered more for upperclassmen, Heritage MUN still brought a few underclassmen with the idea of improvement still in mind.
“This year differed in that I got to partner with someone younger than me, trying my best to teach them a little bit about the MUN experience,” Mitha said. “While our MUN team does consist of many upperclassmen, we do make sure to bring in the underclassmen and help them learn about MUN.”
For this trip, the team brought one freshman and four sophomores. Members like Mitha and Charania hope that bringing them on these trips impact their high school careers.
“[MUN] has provided me with another family. Our team is a very close and tight knit group, and our time with each other has led to many unforgettable memories,” Mitha said.
Best Delegate:
Jackson Arnberg
Alex Yang
Rajat Ramesh
Outstanding Delegate:
Alexa Ruiz
Barak Huang
Benjamin Taubman
Alex Plewinsky
Harrison Krimsky
Honorable Delegate:
Treasure D’Souza
Victoria Molina
Naila Charania
Cinzia Baracco
Zaneer Mitha
Andres Teixeira
Sean Kim
Aamir Lacewala
Logan Kapit
Isaac Ratzan
Timothy Esposito
Book Award:
David Marblestone
The Book Award is for delegate who “encompasses the educational spirit of NAIMUN,” Georgetown describes the winners of this award as delegates who “bring to life the purpose of their committee” and “understand the meaning and real-world implications behind the topics of their committees.”
Verbal Commendation:
David Lowsky
Alex Solomon
Dylan Riffle
