By Alex Chantilas ’18, Contributor
Freshman Manav Midha won an award for his well-constructed position paper, as Finance Minister of Latvia, for the Greek Economic Crisis-Committee, and senior Cooper Ebersbach received a “Best-Delegate” Award for his performance as the delegate from Russia in the Antarctic Crisis Committee at the Indiana University Model United Nations last month. Six students set off for two days to attend the event–the first time Country Day has included the IUMUN in its schedule. The delegates included the senior leadership for the club among others: Soham Basu ‘16, Ebersbach ’16, Sidd Jejurikar ’16, Bradley Dick ’16, Midha ’19, myself, and of course Faculty Advisor Peter Fossett. Cincinnati Country Day individuals won several awards for their outstanding diplomacy.
We all enjoyed a sojourn to the Bloomington, Indiana venue. We slept at the Hilton Garden Inn, while attending many three hour committee sessions at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs building (SPEA). The collegiate staff of the conference prepared committees in which Basu and Jejurikar debated the crisis of the Spanish Civil War while Ebersbach and Dick disputed the Antarctic Crisis. Midha and I deliberated on the Greek Economic Crisis. The efficiently run conference along with the college atmosphere impressed us all, and made it a “must-attend” conference for all of us in the coming years.
After attending the opening ceremony and listening to the key-note speaker, we were off to the first of six committee sessions. This went well for all of us besides the typical discomfort of getting to know the fellow delegates. We noted immediately how diligent and prepared the staff was and how much they facilitated rather than hindered our discussions. This was the beginning to a weekend long theme that did not waver even until the last bang of the gavel at closing ceremonies. Things that were especially notable to us was the use of direct feedback during and after the sessions. Several times my own committee met with IUMUN leadership about how to improve the efficiency with which the conference was run. Afterwards, we filled out a criticism sheet that would sway the creation of next year’s conference. This was particularly unique because we had never been to such a goal and feedback oriented conference before.The weekend was successful for all, but especially for the winners of awards.
Overall, the weekend was extremely successful for all those involved (Including Mr. Fossett, who graded many Junior papers), and I will definitely be attending next year – hopefully with even more students than this year.
