Baylor Model United Nations Team Named Outstanding Delegation at New York City Meet

Baylor’s Model United Nations team was named an Outstanding Delegation, the highest team award given at Model UN conferences, at the 2025 National Model United Nations, New York Week B Conference, held April 13-17. The Baylor team was comprised of 16 undergraduates who traveled to New York City and worked alongside more than 2,000 university students in simulated sessions of United Nations committees. At least 60 percent of the students who participated in NMUN-NY Week B hailed from more than 100 countries outside the United States, making this model conference one that resembled the diversity of the real-life United Nations.

The Baylor team represented Switzerland in eight committees and researched contemporary global issues related to peace, security, environmental sustainability and human rights for the five months leading up to the conference. Each committee was asked to prepare research on two topics and write position papers that were submitted to NMUN in early March in advance of the conference. 

Baylor’s team received Outstanding Position Paper Awards in seven of the eight committees in which it participated, setting a team record for highest proportion of committees receiving position paper awards. The record for total number of position papers received was set in 2024, when Baylor’s team partnered with Japan MUN and received eight paper awards out of 12 total committees.

At the first conference session, one of the two committee topics was chosen by delegates for focused diplomatic work at the conference. The eight topics Baylor students spent the majority of their time discussing, drafting resolutions, and reaching consensus-based solutions with other delegates during the week were:

• Protecting Women and Children in Armed Conflicts (Commission on the Status of Women - CSW);
• Promoting Nuclear Disarmament and International Security (General Assembly - GA 1);
• Closing the Financing Gap to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (GA 2);
• Protection of and Assistance for Refugees, Returnees and Displaced Persons (GA 3);
• Preventing the Use of Chemical Weapons by Non-State Actors (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – OPCW);
• Transforming Food Systems to Prevent Biodiversity Loss (United Nations Environment Assembly - UNEA);
• Improving Sustainable Energy Development and Transition (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe – UNECE); and
• Preventing and Responding to Gender-Based Violence Against Refugees (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR).

To prepare for this committee work, Baylor’s team members combined their research on United Nations topics and Switzerland’s position with training on parliamentary procedure, writing UN resolutions, speechwriting and delivery, and negotiation strategies. 

In addition to being named an overall Outstanding Delegation by conference staff for the seventh straight NMUN-NY conference, Baylor’s team was named Outstanding Delegation in Committee in four committees, which are peer-nominated awards. This tied last year’s number of peer awards and fell just short of tying the team record for overall individual Outstanding Delegation in Committee Awards, which is five awards (the team received this number of awards twice –– in both 2019 and 2023.) The complete team roster and list of individual award winners are provided below.

The conference was bookended with opening and closing sessions at which the keynote speakers encouraged the delegates to use their skills and leadership to effect positive global change. At the opening session, Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa, the Executive Director of Climate Cardinals and UN Youth Advisor, reminded the students that young people comprise one-half of the world’s population, and that they did not need “permission”-- just “purpose” -- to serve. As a recent college graduate himself, Hayakawa’s encouragement was especially meaningful to students in attendance, and his organization’s work translating scientific research into languages other than English to make the work accessible to the global communities provides a tangible example of the work that youth can do to promote climate resilience. 

At the closing ceremonies held at the UN General Assembly, delegates were greeted by Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, Bob Rae, who also currently serves as President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Ambassador Rae exhorted the students to use the skills they learned in Model UN and charged them not as the leaders of tomorrow, but as global leaders today.

The NMUN-NY conference is the last the team will travel to in the 2024-2025 academic year, and the team will begin its research for NMUN-DC representing Nigeria over the summer. Baylor’s Model United Nations team is grateful to the College of Arts & Sciences for the financial support that made travel to NMUN-NY possible.

Specific awards given to Baylor participants follow.

Position Paper Award Winners

Below is a list of all the class and club members who contributed to research, writing, and editing for the award-winning position papers. This award is given by conference staff.

• CSW -- Lauren Adams, Gianna Bolla, Maia Brinkman, Jazmine Fajardo and Nicole Machado
• GA 1 -- Tori Jones and Bri Uptain
• GA 2 -- Michael Chung, Tessa Garcia, Holden George and Norah Ramsey
• GA 3 -- Leah Al-zouhbi, Shawn Brower and Amelia Crouchet
• UNEA -- Sigrid Hiser and Bella Zarate
• UNECE -- Bradon Lazarov, Dalton Meeker and Darcey Warne
• UNHCR -- Bianca Curiel, Matthew Gehman, Elizabeth Gijsbertsen and Mesha Mittanasala

Outstanding Delegations in Committee

This is an individual award given by peers in committee at conference.

• Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) -- Gianna Bolla and Jazmine Fajardo
• GA 1 -- Tori Jones and Bri Uptain
• GA 2 -- Tessa Garcia and Norah Ramsey
• United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) -- Sigrid Hiser and Bella Zarate

TOP PHOTO IDENTIFICATION

(Bottom row, left to right): Jazmine Fajardo (junior, political science), Isabella Zarate (head delegate; senior, international studies & environmental studies), Gianna Bolla (sophomore, political science), Mesha Mittanasala (sophomore, University Scholar) and Bradon Lazarov (senior, health science studies)

(Second row, left to right): Tessa Garcia (junior, neuroscience), Walker Snider (junior, English & international studies), Bianca Curiel (junior, political science), Michael Chung (sophomore, political science & statistics) and Darcey Warne (senior, University Scholar)

(Third row, left to right): Norah Ramsey (freshman, Baylor Business Fellows), Leah Al-Zouhbi (junior, international studies) and Elizabeth Gijsbertsen (freshman, international studies)

(Top row, left to right): Bri Uptain (PR and fundraising chair; senior, physics and astronomy), Tori Jones (co-assistant head delegate; senior, international studies) and Sigrid Hiser (co-assistant head delegate; senior, international studies) 

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY 

The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments in the sciences, humanities, fine arts and social sciences, as well as 11 academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. The College’s undergraduate Unified Core Curriculum, which routinely receives top grades in national assessments, emphasizes a liberal education characterized by critical thinking, communication, civic engagement and Christian commitment. Arts & Sciences faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit the College of Arts & Sciences website.