From Friday, November 4 to Sunday, November 6, 2022, The Village High School Model United Nations team competed at the Central Texas Model United Nations conference. After sitting through several hours of conferencing, Village delegates were creative in their solutions and professional as diplomats, earning an unbelievable amount of individual recognition. The team took 35 kids to CTMUN and came home with 12 individual awards, including five best delegate awards (1st place), two outstanding delegate awards (2nd place), and five honorable mentions (3rd place). Aside from phenomenal individual victories, for many seniors, this was a heartfelt farewell to a conference and trip that has been instrumental to their high school experiences. For novices and underclassmen, on the other hand, these conferences are an opportunity to form friendships that last a lifetime. 

“CTMUN is special because the team hypes you up,” said sophomore Leen Binnasser, a crisis delegate in the Harry Potter committee. “Through the shared struggles of our committees, I get to form bonds with my friends that I can’t find on school grounds.”

Every year, CTMUN also vests a ‘Best Large Delegation’ award upon a school that has demonstrated exemplary leadership, the highest amount of individual committee recognition, and model diplomacy within MUN. This year, out of over 50 central Texas private and public schools, VHS was named BLD for the second consecutive year. VHSMUN has lived up to its well-reputed legacy and once again proved itself to be the front-running academic team at Village. 

Individual accolades are as follows:

• Mauricio Espinosa Rondon as Pedro Carmona, Presidente de Fedecamaras, named Best Delegate in the Venezuela Crisis: Punto Sin Regreso
• Nirav Mandhani as Janet Yellen, named Best Delegate in WEF (World Economic Forum)
• Angeli Yining Zhao as Latvia, named Outstanding Delegate in General Assembly Plenary
• Sevastian Oti as Frank Konkowski, named Outstanding Delegate on the Chicago City Council Crisis Committee
• Aditi Ramesh Iyer as Andy Cooke Welling, named Best Delegate in INTERPOL
• Leen Binnasser as Peter McLagen, awarded Honorable Mention in the Harry Potter: Year at Hogwarts simulation
• Eshaal Merchant as Lybia, awarded Honorable Mention in DISEC (Disarmament and International Security)
• Akshat Kumar as Philippines, awarded Honorable Mention in ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council)
• Caroline Hsu as China, named Best Delegate in ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council)
• Uzair Jinnah as Chad, named Best Delegate in UNEP (UN Environmental Programme)
• Rahman Ovezov as Morocco, awarded Honorable Mention in General Assembly Plenary
• Alexander Ilacqua, awarded Honorable Mention as Lucius Aruntius in Special Crisis Rome: War of Actium