Carleton’s United Nations Society (UNS) is finishing the year on an all-time high, winning a record number of awards for its work as delegates at conferences across North America and Europe this year.
Based on the United Nations, Carleton’s UNS members represent countries and governing bodies. At conferences, they research and debate policy in simulations of international situations.
Sierra Fullerton, vice-president of communications for UNS, said students are asked to research and represent a variety of positions and situations as part of their work.
“You might be representing a country like China on a UN body like the Security Council, or you could be a corporate decision maker on a business board, or you could be presenting a historical character during a crisis situation,” Fullerton said.
Carleton recently sent a delegation of 14 students to the Harvard National Model United Nations in Boston, where they won Best Delegate for the second year in a row. This year, the award went to third-year journalism student Anaïs Voski.
Voski said the experience was meant to simulate working as a reporter at the United Nations.
“I had to go around to various committee rooms and committees, and cover the events of the conference just like we would cover different bodies in the UN,” she said.
UNS brought home awards at every conference they attended this year, and expect to finish the year with a record number of awards.
“We’re anticipating finishing the year with over 50 awards, which is amazing,” Fullerton said. “Last year we finished with 21, so we’ll have over doubled the number of awards we’ve won this year.”
This year, UNS sent a team to Europe, after developing a partnership with the University of Edinburgh.
“They actually sponsored our team to go for the weekend,” Fullerton said. “We’re really excited about that and we brought home three awards from that adventure as well.”
Voski said she’s happy to have won the award to bring Carleton some much-deserved recognition.
“For me this is the journalism school and Carleton getting recognition abroad. That means a lot to me because I think they really deserve it,” Voski said. “I’m just still on cloud nine, I’m really happy to have won it.”
Model UN Society president Samir Kassam said that all UNS delegates have done an outstanding job this year.
“We have so many shining examples of Carleton students who have travelled to cities across North America, and even to Europe with the UNS, bringing back knowledge, awards, and recognition for the university,” Kassam said. “We congratulate all our members for their hard work and determination in helping to make this one of the best years in UNS history.”
Fullerton said going forward, UNS hopes to see even more members join and compete.
“We hope that the society continues to not only expand, but grow in quality,” she said. “The exuberance we have seen from the team this year and with all the success we’ve had, it’s definitely looking positively towards that goal.”
UNS is competing again this weekend at the Canadian International Model United Nations (CANIMUN), organized by the United Nations Association in Canada.
