AGS Students Participate in Model UN Conference at Cambridge University

A delegation of eight American Graduate School in Paris students participated in the 19th Cambridge International Model United Nations conference (CUIMUN), in Cambridge, UK, November 29th to December 2nd. The AGS delegation represented Brazil, Portugal, Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo on seven different UN committees: the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security (DISEC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Historical Committee, the European Council, and the African Union.

This year for the first time, the AGS delegation was composed of both graduate and undergraduate students as three students from the United States spending their semester in Paris through Arcadia/AGS study abroad semester program joined the MUN graduate team: Daniela Baeza (Eckerd College, FL), Chelsea Cashwell (Campbell University, NC), and Tailleu Paquette (Arcadia University, PA) participated alongside International Relations Master's candidates Rebecca Apperson (Class of 2015), Ebi Botei (Class of 2014), Christine Brownfield (Class of 2014), Tim Francis (Class of 2014), and JoAnne Loiodice (Class of 2014), thus making the most of the International Relations specialization of the school and benefitting from the experience of their graduate fellows.

“It was empowering to have put forth so much effort in researching my topic and being able to proudly represent my country (Brazil) at MUN,” Tailleu Paquette said.

In preparation for this conference, the AGS Model United Nations team met each week since September under the supervision and coordination of Head Delegate Christine Brownfield. They performed debating, training on speech writing and public speaking, and extensive research on the countries they were assigned as well as on the UN structure and policy making. This allowed the AGS delegation to truly embody the policymakers of the countries they represented and be fully prepared as they competed with more than 400 students from universities around the world, including the MIT and Columbia University (US), Oxford and Cambridge Universities (UK), the University of Utrecht (Netherlands), Ecole Polytechnique (France), Peking University (China), and Delhi University (India), among many others.

"At CUIMUN there were delegates who flew in ranging from the US to the Philippines."Christine Brownfield said. "I'm always amazed and inspired to be surrounded by so many intelligent and hard-working students from all over the world. It was my first time participating on a Historical Committee, but as an IR student who has heard plenty about the Peace of Westphalia, getting a chance to delve into the topic and rewrite history somewhat was a wonderful experience."

This is the fifth conference in which the AGS Model United Nations team has participated since the program was started in 2012. The next conferences in the team's projects are the World MUN in Belgium, the LIMUN in London, and the PIMUN in Paris.

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(Photos: Courtesy of CUIMUN)