Gallery • 3 Photos

Zahra Mazkur

Delegates sit at opening ceremony, awaiting their first day of debate.

New Hyde Park Memorial High School’s Model United Nations club participated in Yale Model United Nations LI from January 23rd to 26th. 30 delegates were chosen from the club to represent NHP at the conference in New Haven, Connecticut. They were advised and chaperoned by teachers Ms. Erin Esposito and Mr. Thomas Galvin. Throughout the three-day conference, there were seven committee sessions where delegates debated a wide range of issues. There were 50 committees in total, with NHP participating in around half. NHP had delegates represented in each of the five committee types: General Assemblies, Economic and Social Councils, Regional Bodies, Specialized Agencies and Crisis Committees. 

Each delegate got their country and committee assignments in early December. They fully researched their topic and committee in order to put together a position paper that was formally submitted to YMUN on January 1.

“From researching every night to sleepless nights and with all the stress, at the end it paid off and it was such a fun event,” sophomore Carla Yanez said.

At the conference, there were many delegations that came from abroad, such as from Brazil, Canada, India, Portugal, Australia, South Korea as well as many other nations. Each New Hyde Park delegate was able to partake in unique opportunities and experiences.

“Having to take care of myself for three days, seeing what college life was like, understanding how to work under pressure, were all amazing ways to understand how life may look later on,” sophomore Dominic Cyril said. “Debate was awesome, and I met so many great people, especially Yale students chairing our debates.”

NHP delegates earned sixteen individual awards and the overall delegation won the Outstanding Large Delegation Award. The following delegates received awards for their individual performances throughout the three-day conference.

Best Delegate:

Senior Alexander Tomalski • Dionysus, Ragnarök 2.0 Conference of the Gods

Junior Nyelle Sarreal • Edward Smith, Titanic 

Junior Liam Cavanagh • Zhou Enlai, Chinese Communist Party 1933

Junior Darsh Mirchandani • Republic of Korea, Association of Southeast Asian Nations

Sophomore Nikita Bansal • Nigeria, UN High Commissioner For Refugee 

Sophomore Dominic Cyril • Costa Rica, Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS

Outstanding Delegate: 

Senior Tanisha Patel • Suriname, Southern Common Market

Senior Gianna Bonetti • Tanaka Mitsuaki, Meiji Restoration 

Junior Ariana Muhammad • Lithuania, European Union 

Junior Shohom Chakraborty • United Arab Emirates, Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Honorable Delegate: 

Senior Marco Valle • Nicholas II, Russian Civil War

Senior Serina John • Chair of the Board, Theranos

Senior Deborah Aderibigbe • High Smith Cumming, The Manchuria Trials

Senior Julia Kim • Pyotr Korshunov, JCC: Mars- The Expanse

Sophomore Zahra Mazkur • Costa Rica, UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Sophomore Obed Glanson • Costa Rica, Commission on Population and Development 

“I am so incredibly proud of our group that went to New Haven to compete on the international stage and be able to tackle all the challenges and roadblocks that come with debating on such important topics,” Model UN adviser Jonathan Novak said. “As we always say in MUN, ‘success isn’t accidental,’ and this group truly lived up to that mantra making sure that they put the time and effort into being as prepared as possible.”