Westfield was named Premier Delegation and Outstanding Delegation for the second year in a row at the YMCA Model UN Conference held in Hershey, PA from Jan. 6 to 8. Over 120 WHS students participated in the conference.

According to ymcamun.org, Premier Delegation is awarded to a school with the best conference performance, and Outstanding Delegation goes to any school which meets all paperwork deadlines.
The conference had about 1400 participants.

Students were assigned specific countries and committees for which they had topics to research. Participants debated real international issues from the perspective of their assigned countries and drafted resolutions to solve the problems.

“Our students performed extraordinarily well. They were perfect in the presentation, comportment and attitude,” said MUN Co-Adviser Mr. Daniel Farabaugh.

Senior Markian Borkowsky, a delegate in the International Criminal Court said, “WHS’ performance was top notch, shown not only by the multiple awards and positions we won, but by the overall energy and excitement we added.”

Seniors Zoe Greenburg, Sarah Chandler, Liz Kuehn, Kevin Oster, Brian Pollock, Becky Tunis and juniors Rob Cassie and Jen Mandelblatt all served as officers.

Greenburg, chair of the Environment and Technology Committee, said, “Going into conference, I wanted to make sure that all of the delegates in my committee had a thoughtful debate, wrote great resolutions and represented their countries faithfully.”

Oster said that as chair of the Political and Security Committee, “I wanted to connect with each delegate in my committee, grow as a leader, develop my public speaking skills, make friendships and most importantly have fun.”

Juniors Alex Breakstone, Claire Dorwart, Liz Griesmer, Aiden Hughes, Geoffrey Ko, Benji Schwartz, Isabelle Smelkinson, Eric Oberman, Leo Kleinman-Lynch, and seniors Alana Basil and Isabel DoCampo were all nominated as Premier Diplomats, the best debater in each committee.

Borkowsky, Hughes, Griesmer and Basil won the award.

Borkowsky, Smelkinson, and juniors Andres Chang, Rebecca Harris, Katie Rembisz and Kyra Sagal won Outstanding Country Research Paper.

Hughes, Ko, Mandelblatt, Schwartz, Smelkinson and juniors Alex Jeffrey and Megan Mulrooney were elected officers for the 2013 conference.

Basil, Mulrooney, Oster and Schwartz were selected to go to the YMCA Conference on National Affairs in North Carolina this summer.

Oster said, “[Going to CONA] confirms that all my hard work over the last year really paid off.”

Additionally, senior Hannah Bass, Griesmer, Mandelblatt, Pollock and junior Clara Smith were selected as alternates for the CONA program.

Greenburg said: “I always love being a part of a delegation as passionate as Westfield. Every delegate we bring is prepared and genuinely wants to participate in their committees.”

Mandelblatt was one of six delegates running to be next year’s Secretary General. According to ymcamun.org, the Secretary General is responsible for planning and managing most aspects of the conference, starting a full year ahead of time.

Greenburg said it was rewarding to hear about the confidence the other students gained and everything else that they learned.

Farabaugh said, “While I thought [the students] would do well, they performed beyond my expectations, both in achievement and effort.”