On April 10, the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations erupted with applause as the Victor Valley College Model United Nations team received the Outstanding Delegation award at the National Model United Nations New York Conference (NMUN). Outstanding Delegation award designates the top ten delegations at one of the most prestigious conferences in the world. This year NMUN brought to New York more than 3,000 students from 174 graduate institutions, universities and community colleges from across the United States, South and Central America and Europe. VVC finished in the top ten of all that.
Even more impressively, less than half the VVC team had competed in multi-day conferences, and NMUN is the mother of all conferences. It runs four grueling days that include “Melt-down Tuesday,” the day when the work gets done, the papers get written and the awards are won.
Representing Poland, VVC students pushed through this grind. Mariah Washington and Ashly Smith won the delegate award from her peers in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Chelsea Villegas and Avery Porter impressed in General Assembly (GA) 1, William Tate and Abigail Acosta ran their blocs in GA 2, and Tess Bonacio did the work of two delegates in GA 3. Melanie Alvarado, also a lone delegate, worked tirelessly in a committee of more than 300 delegates in the UN Environment Agency. Kimberly and Angelica Acosta spoke powerfully and impressed their blocs in UN High Commission of Refugees. Maria Abbott and Roque Real made Poland a force to reckon with in the UN Economic Commission for Europe. Leo Maldonado was at the center of every debate in Prohibition of Chemical Weapons committee. And Grace Hickey and Josh Martinez rode through several unpeaceable power grabs to succeed in the Peacebuilding Commission.
VVC-MUN advisor Kevork Kazanjian exulted, “This was such an amazing win for VVC. What a great way to make a comeback. To go to New York and win VVC-MUN’s tenth Outstanding Delegation Award. To be recognized in the Grand Hall of the United Nations General Assembly Hall—that was just greatest feeling in the world!”
The team had achieved some success this school year, winning 9 individual awards in three one-day conferences. Angelica Acosta won at her first conference ever in the fall semester at RCC. Mariah Washington won at the Spring RCC Conference, the UC Riverside Conference. Team leaders Leo Maldonado and Grace Hickey led the team through the preparations for New York, which entailed learning Poland’s positions on every major and many minor issues. They had to become Poland to succeed.
There were other obstacles to overcome. VVC-MUN had not participated at the National Model United Nations Conference since 2017, mostly because it is an expensive conference. Thanks to the support of the Foundation, the Administration, ASB, and the campus community in general, the funding commitments have been met. The team returned from New York, exhausted and triumphant. Now they can concentrate on mid-terms at VVC.