Auburn’s Model United Nations team received the Distinguished Delegation Award at the 2017 Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference.
The members of Auburn's Model UN traveled to the conference in Charolette, North Carolina, which included 80 delegates and 30 assigned countries. Eight students — Molly Rhodes, William Edwards, Garret Kizer, Jessie Bridges, Kapish Batura, Kyle Munroe, Rylie Gay and David Ajomale — made the trip.
Rhodes helped found Auburn’s Model UN team and served as president before she graduated this past semester with a degree in political science with a concentration in international relations. Along with Batura, Rhodes was selected out of the many applicants to delegate her own committee.
“It was very competitive,” Rhodes said. “I had to go through an application process and interviews so that I could lead the debate separate from my team.”
Two faculty members in the Department of Political Science, Matt Clary and Anthony Gazey, sponsored the team.
The team represented Zambia and was recognized for their debating and leadership skills within different committes.
In preparation for the conference, the team worked for weeks and put in countless hours of research and writing for their committees along with practiced debates and organized crisis simulations.
Their hard work paid off, the Distinguished Delegation Award placed the team in the top nine delegations.
Rhodes chaired the UN habitat committee, which addressed urban water distribution and sanitation systems along with plans to provide adequate and sustainable housing.
“There are not many instances where you get to debate international problems with people and appeal to the countries' best interests in a peaceful way,” Rhodes said. “It’s been a lot of fun being on the team, competing is kind of like solving a big puzzle.”
Rhodes said that the experience has been a great way to learn about diplomacy and how to respectfully work with other people and debate ideas.
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