ASU Model UN wins 'Outstanding Delegation' award in St. Louis

March 3, 2009 -- Arkansas State University’s delegates to the recent 49^th Annual Midwest Model United Nations in St. Louis earned the “Outstanding Delegation” award. More than 500 students from 54 colleges and universities, representing some 89 countries, took part in the competition.

The Outstanding Delegation award was won by head delegate Isaac Ong’oa, a Heritage Studies student from Kitale, Kenya, and Brian Maina, a senior Radio-Television major from Nairobi, Kenya. The pair formed a team in the Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC] plenary sessions during the final two days of the conference.

The ASU students represented South Africa at the three-and-a-half day meet in the St. Louis Marriott Union Station Hotel and Convention Center, participating in eight councils and committees. The group was also instrumental in the meet operation.  The ASU “ambassadors” and their counterparts debated a wide range of topics, including international money laundering, situations in Zimbabwe and Georgia, land mines, biodiversity, and terrorism, and attempted to devise solutions in the form of resolutions.

The other ASU delegates who represented South Africa were Friedric Tarkington from Jonesboro, who took the role of the South African ambassador in the Security Council; Brandon Smith of Little Rock, who represented South Africa in a specialized committee dealing with the Palestinian issue; Chad Whatley of Blytheville and Cemil Ozyalcin of Istanbul, Turkey, who represented South Africa in the first committee; Dani Fields of Carlisle, who represented South Africa in the second committee;  Brandon Stroud  from Jonesboro and Aysuhan Saral of Samsun, Turkey, who spoke for South Africa in the third committee;  and  Paida Sigauke of Zimbabwe, who represented South Africa in the fourth committee.

Russell Page, Jr. of Trumann began the conference as a South African delegate in the fourth committee, but was drafted after one session to help in the administration of the conference. He worked with the Historical Security Council, which was set in 1982. Ong’oa covered the International Labor Organization [ILO] sessions for South Africa during the first two days of the meet, and Maina spoke for South Africa in the UN Environment Program [UNEP] sessions at the same time.

Heather Strojek of North Little Rock, a recent journalism graduate and former Herald editor, traveled with the delegation and served as editor for the conference newspaper, the Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) World News & Report, and was selected as the director of the International Press Delegation for next year’s conference.

Professor of Political Science Dr. Charles Hartwig served as the delegation's faculty adviser and made a presentation to the other faculty advisors and the MMUN Board of Directors for an innovative type of Security Council at the 2010 meet.

The ASU delegates were sponsored by the ASU Model United Nations Organization and the Department of Political Science.


 

###