After loading up a bus of 27 members, the Model United Nations team left for Vanderbilt University on Friday, Oct. 11. They attended VUMUN XVI, Vanderbilt’s Model UN conference. 

“Going into the weekend, I thought it was going to be a lot of fun,” Saumil Bansal (11) said. “I just love Model UN, so I was feeling pretty good about going into the conference and trying to win some awards.”

The conference featured 20 committees, with topics ranging from childhood obesity to the Dakota Access Pipeline. After three days of debate, the conference wrapped up on October 13th. 

“It was really fun, but not just during committee,” Jonathan Zhang (12) said. “Outside of committee, we had a lot of fun with the people that went.”

White Station’s members took home 15 awards, including four winners of best delegate. Due to their success, the team earned the title of Best Large Delegation at the conference.

“I think we did really well,” Zhang said. “I think it was a good conference because we did well in multiple committees. Even newer members were able to receive awards.”

Going away from the conference, the Model UN team hopes to compete at WaveMUN, Tulane University’s Model UN conference from Nov. 22 to Nov. 24.

“I think the newer delegates are going to be able to learn a lot from the conference because it is smaller,” Bansal said. “There are going to be a lot of good examples from our delegates, too.”