by Brendan O’Donnell ‘16
The Saint Ignatius Diplocats – the school’s competitive Model United Nations travel team – concluded a packed but successful season with an overall victory at the mid-sized Youngstown State conference and a second-place finish in the largest category at the nationally renowned Michigan State tournament.
From March 14th to 16th, 39 delegates from St. Ignatius competed with over thirty other schools at Michigan State University. The delegates debated in thirteen distinct committees, discussing solutions to topics ranging from Syrian refugees and drone warfare to a reenactment of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. This was their second conference of the year, following the November conference at the University of Virginia.
Nine students from St. Ignatius won awards. David Pietrow ‘17 and Kellen Dugan ‘15 won verbal accommodations for their performance in committee, while Zach Keirn ’14 and Mark Raddell ’15 earned “book awards” that are akin to fourth place, an impressive honor considering that Model UN committees often incorporate more than fifty delegates from as many schools.
Tyler Delhees was awarded “honorable delegate” (third place) for his work in committee, while Charlie Heintel ’16 and Zach Stepp ’14 received outstanding delegate awards (second place). Andrew Beddow ’14 and Alastair Pearson ’14 teamed up to win the best delegate and gavel awards in their committee, a simulation of a hypothetical international convention to reform the United Nations itself. Overall, St. Ignatius won the award for Outstanding Large Delegation, a second-place finish.
On April 4 and 5, 34 delegates from Ignatius competed with over ten other schools at the Youngstown State University Model United Nations Conference. There, delegates debated a diverse slate of issues such as the crisis in Ukraine and the international legal framework for protecting children’s rights. This was the third and final Model United Nations conference for the Diplocats, and in terms of awards as a percentage of delegates their most successful.
At YSU, nine students earned awards. Freshmen Colin Caniglia (Excellent Award and Chair Gavel) and Owen Hearns; juniors Kellen Dugan (Excellent Award and Chair Gavel), Patrick Millican, Anthony Edwards, and John Selby; and graduating seniors Tom Horan, Zach Stepp, and Ben Seeley all won awards.
The gavel, won by Pearson and Beddow at Michigan State and by Dugan at Youngstown, is the highest honor a delegate can receive in Model United Nations – a statement that the recipient has upheld the highest ideals of the MUN tradition. Moreover, Saint Ignatius was the overall victor of the Youngstown State tournament, putting them in contention for a ranking in the top fifty high school delegations in the nation, as ranked by www.bestdelegate.com.
Head Delegate and President Kellen Dugan feels that these were the best delegations he has seen in his years of experience.
“They performed above and beyond what I’ve ever really seen. Aside from Gannon [in 2011], we performed better than at any other conference,” he said.
Dugan believes that an increase in enthusiasm was the cause of this success.
“[Delegates] really enjoyed the conference, and they wanted to get involved rather than being dragged along, he said. Dugan believes the awards were the result of the four months’ worth of training put into the conference for MSU, as well as the enthusiasm carried over into YSU from the stellar performance at MSU.
There will be no more conferences this year, but next year the Diplocats will be back.
With excellent performances this year, Saint Ignatius will likely be one of the top delegations in the country. The season of trophies should serve as an incentive for the school’s top academic and debating talent to join the circuit for next year.
