Model UN Opens the Floor to Underclassmen
January 29, 2010

The 1,100-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, also known as the BTC pipeline, runs through the countries of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey pumping enough oil—up to one million barrels a day—to reduce U.S. dependence on the Middle East and Russia. The BTC has been a hot topic of discussion since its planning began in the early 90s. In 1999 it set the stage for riveting James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) action scenes in the “The World is Not Enough.” A decade later the BTC took center stage again, this time for Saint Patrick Shamrocks at the Chicago International Model United Nations (CIMUN).

Of the eighteen students who attended the December event, four seniors won awards. Brian Rachmaciej (Immaculate Conception) received the Best Delegate award. Kevin Lodwich (Immaculate Conception) won Outstanding Delegate, and William Barker (Immaculate Conception) and Matt Forrest (St. Eugene) each won Honorable Mention.

St. Pat’s Model United Nations coordinator Andrew Johannes is proud of the team’s hard work, especially how the award winners prepared their strategies beforehand. The typical process before any conference is for teams to be given a country or countries to represent and a few topics that could be introduced for discussion. Students then write position papers that will provide the basis for their presentations at the conference. By sharing their ideas and research on the various topics, teams can go into a session prepared to negotiate or argue with other “countries.” The Shamrocks last meeting before CIMUN focused on their goals and what they were hoping to accomplish. “Those four guys worked in unison so that throughout the entire conference, they had one policy that they followed,” said Johannes.

While this system of preparation seems flawless, Johannes points out that St. Pat’s Model UN program has come a long way to get to this point. Resurrected four years ago by a small group of students, including then-freshman Forrest, Model UN initially held club status at St. Pat’s. Beginning this year, students can earn a ½ credit hour for the course on their transcripts, and choose whether or not to take it for AP credit. The class credit option is appealing to seniors, but now underclassmen must take the reigns. “We are really trying to develop our juniors and younger members to take bigger leadership roles,” said Forrest, a four-year member of the team who is ranked fourth in the class of 2010 and will attend the U.S. Air Force Academy next Fall. “It’s attractive because of the fact it has so much to do with what’s going on with the wars today and Barack Obama in the presidency.”

Freshman Joe Muzupappa (Immaculate Conception) is one new member who plans to stick with Model UN. He thought one of the coolest parts of CIMUN was that students were totally immersed in the experience by staying overnight in the same hotel in which the conference was held. He particularly enjoyed the interactions that took place at CIMUN when St. Pat’s sat in the hot seat as Russian delegates in the heart of the BTC pipeline situation. In the scenario, the BTC broke down in Georgia leaving the entire pipeline inoperable and several countries without access to oil. “We had to negotiate with the other delegates as to how much we would sell our oil for,” said Muzupappa, also a member of the band, track team and World Language Club. “None of the countries were satisfied with our first resolution because they thought our high oil price only benefited us.” The countries lobbied with St. Pat’s until they agreed to lower the price per barrel. All things considered the exchange was relatively smooth unlike the tensions that erupted between Russia and Georgia in August of 2008 that resulted in Russian missile strikes in the area surrounding the BTC.

Johannes says there are many benefits to the club aside from having fun. He said that, while grasping a sense of world politics, students can improve their speaking, writing and critical thinking skills. The conferences also give students a chance to meet peers from other schools with different worldviews. The CIMUN conference hosts schools from as far away as New York, California, South Carolina and France. Forrest would like to see the group grow enough to support trips to conferences in New York and/or Washington D.C. “The students [from every school] must work together to build consensus,” said Johannes. “It’s a great way to learn about how government works.”

Ed Gaskew ’09 competed in Model UN at St. Pat’s for two years and enjoyed the experience so much that he followed ’08 grad Vince Floress back to CIMUN to volunteer. He was present throughout the entire conference as Vice Chair of the Historical Security Council. “Model UN makes learning fun,” said Gaskew. “It makes the months of research and learning worthwhile once you go to a conference and start using all this knowledge to your advantage.” Gaskew adds that for incoming freshmen, it’s an excellent way to build public speaking skills and confidence.

The Shamrocks’ other major conference this year was held at St. Ignatius. Award winners at the St. Ignatius Model UN included Rachmaciej and junior Paul Vaccaro (Mt. Carmel Academy) for Best Delegate, and Forrest and junior William Brock (St. William) for Honorable Mention. Johannes hopes to get them into a couple more conferences this spring.