The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Delegation of 92 students returned from the annual Model United Nations trip with the title of Outstanding Delegation.
Model United Nations, often referred to as MUN, is a high school program where students come together to debate and write resolutions as in the United Nations. The Conference takes place over a span of three days as over 1,800 delegates gather in the Hershey Park Hotel and Lodge.
The delegation at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School prepared for the conference from September through January. Students were placed in committees and then wrote Country Research Papers according to their respective committee’s topics.
Every year, the Model United Nations follows a different theme.  This year’s theme was liberation.  Many of the debate topics applied to the theme; some topics such as human and drug trafficking, economic inequality, gender empowerment, and much more.
In regards to liberation, junior Rebecca Ames, third year delegate and newly elected World Health Organization Chair, said, “Having no regrets is liberation. So next time you are afraid of taking a chance, ask yourself what will liberate you from your regrets and follow through with your commitment to yourself, for the sake of bettering yourself and, consequently, this world.” Ames overcame her nerves and fears by liberating herself through the people around her. Overcoming her fears became a deciding factor in running for chair.
After a weekend of debate, it was time for awards to be given out. Sitting among 1,800 delegates, “from Scotch Plains-Fanwood delegation” could be heard among the cheers. Senior  David Lange, senior Michael Lange, junior Josh Axelrod, junior Rebecca Ames, junior Sarah Barash, and senior John Sheehy were awarded the title of Premier Delegate in their respective committees. Best Brief was awarded to Senior Matthew Itzkowitz, sophmore Justin Greenman, junior Gali Zabrowski, and senior Claire Nguyen. Youth Secretariat and senior Elise Mann won “Premier Youth Secretariat.” sophomore Francesca Jones, senior Michael Lange, junior Kiersten Swaak and sophomore Gabriel Sta Rosa earned the title of “Best Country Research Paper” in their respective committees.  In regards to the award, Sta Rosa said, “By researching the topics themselves, I was able to get a better sense of what I would be writing about.”
Scotch Plains-Fanwood Delegation also earned three new chairs for the 2015-2016 conference, junior Paulie Cherubini, junior Kaavya Krishna-Kumar, junior and Rebecca Ames. For next year’s conference, Ames, newly elected Chair of the World Health Organization, hopes to “make everyone feel capable that they can speak or write a resolution or introduce themselves to the person next to them; anything that challenges their personality to expand, building character as a result.”