KPU Model UN Club wins 5 awards at Portland conference

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Editor’s note: Zak Ludwig and Fadel Cheaib, who were interviewed for this article, have both contributed to The Runner. The Runner acknowledges and has taken steps to prevent conflicts of interest or potential bias from influencing the article. 

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Model United Nations (MUN) Club won five awards at this year’s Northwest Model United Nations (NWMUN) conference in Portland, Ore., which ran from Feb. 16 to 18.

The club won the top-ranking Outstanding Delegation Award for their performance at the conference, with four members also earning individual achievements.

“I think [the Outstanding Delegation Award is] an indication that KPU has people who are willing to get involved,” says KPU MUN Club President Bobby Gardner.

“I know a lot of people at KPU have said there’s not a lot of club involvement or there’s not a lot of engagement from students, but I think this means that the club has tapped into a demographic of students who are passionate about global politics, debate, [and] performance.”

Nine members from the club attended the conference, making them the only Canadian team in attendance. 

For her work representing Montenegro in the Third Committee of the General Assembly, which deals with humanitarian, social, and cultural issues, Jolee Wen won the Outstanding Delegate Award. This award is only given to one person in each committee and is the highest honour that can be given to a delegate.

Wen is in the legal administrative studies certificate program and has never done anything formally in MUN clubs prior to this conference. She is also the youngest member of the KPU MUN Club.

At first, Wen says she felt a little nervous being in an unfamiliar environment with people more experienced in MUN than her, and she expected them to surpass her because of it.

“But then as the conference went on, I picked up on the formal rules and procedures and I got more used to the environment and just how people and the countries that they were representing interacted with each other, I grasped more of how it went,” Wen says.

“Then, through kind of eavesdropping and looking at how everyone interacted just from the background, I was able to do well.”

Zak Ludwig, who was a co-head delegate with Gardner at the conference, won the Distinguished Delegate Award for his work representing Montenegro for the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council. In the UN, this body revolves around peer reviewing a member state’s human rights records.

The Distinguished Delegate Award is the second-highest honour one can receive and no more than three were given out in a single committee at this conference.

Ludwig says winning the award was a “validating moment,” as he has not always been the most outgoing person and used to be nervous when approaching people he doesn’t know well.

“Being able to take home a Distinguished Delegate Award, it’s just confirmation that things are moving in a really good direction, and we are doing the right things and we do have this high level of achievement,” Ludwig says.

“It’s so enriching. I’ve gone from wanting to be a random policy, office guy one day to really pursuing a career in the diplomatic service through just exposure to this club, and that makes me feel like I’m well on my way.”

Gardner and club member Ninsy Cantarero also won their own Position Paper Awards. Position papers are documents that include the views and issues of a UN member state on certain topics. 

Gardner won the award for his position paper on France for the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council. Cantarero received her award for also representing France, but at the Third Committee of the General Assembly.

Cantarero says earning the award was a “surreal experience,” as she did not expect to win anything.

“I was really proud of myself, but I’m also proud of everybody because they were always there to cheer me up and tell me how to do better,” Cantarero says.

“For my position paper, especially, I asked almost every single one of the executives for feedback just to show them what I was doing, and I felt like it was something that I wouldn’t have been able to win if it wasn’t for everybody’s feedback and help.”

The KPU MUN Club attended last year’s Portland conference, where they won four awards. In November, they went to a larger conference in Washington, D.C, and received an Honourable Mention Delegation Award.

For Fadel Cheaib, who represented Iran at the General Assembly during this latest conference, being in the KPU MUN Club means being a part of a group of people who share the same interests and are politically involved.

“This club has a lot of tremendous benefits, like obviously apart from the social connection, it teaches you how to negotiate. Public speaking is a huge thing as well,” Cheaib says.