by Brendan O’Donnell ‘16
The St. Ignatius Model United Nations team has been honored with a ranking from bestdelegate.com, the world’s most important MUN-related website. This is the first time that the team has made the list. Their new ranking came after winning outstanding delegation at Michigan State University MUN and best delegation at Lake Erie International MUN last year.
The rankings presented on bestdelegate. com are currently grouped in 6 regional categories. St. Ignatius is ranked in the Midwest category, along with schools from Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and other Midwestern states. There are three other ranked schools from Ohio: Shaker Heights High School, St. Francis DeSales High School, and Upper Arlington high school. The schools are not ranked numerically but rather alphabetically within their given regions.
The MUN team is very proud of their accomplishment and grateful for the recognition. According to Kellen Dugan ‘15, the student leader of JCWA last year, their high ranking means a lot to the team. “It’s definitely an honor, especially since we put in a lot of hours to improve the program,” he said. Dugan also mentioned how the ranking will positively affect the club’s image.
The rankings were achieved as a result of significant changes that were implemented last year. “We emphasized practicing public speaking, and becoming comfortable speaking on topics that we may not be familiar with,” Dugan said. “We shifted to this style, and away from the normal focus of position papers and on procedure.”
The team expects to be ranked again this year. “We have to win, what Mr. Arko calls, ‘paper awards’ which make us win conferences,” says one of the leaders of this year’s team, Charley Heintel ‘16. “I’m confident because of our great leadership, lots of new freshmen, and strong returning veterans. We’re strong all around.” The team starts their first conference this year at the University of Virginia from November 6th through the 9th.
