Lebanese students won the “Best Delegation Award” during the recent 29th Harvard World Model United Nations (WorldMUN).
The nine-student delegation of the American University of Beirut (AUB) won the award for their remarkable diplomacy, leadership, and public speaking skills.
This delegation is the first in the entire MENA region to win the Best Delegation Award since the Harvard WorldMUN’s establishment in 1992.
The Harvard WorldMUN is an annual traveling Model United Nations conference run by Harvard University in cooperation with a local university team from a host city.
It is one of the largest international conferences of its kind in the world, and it targets students who are interested in becoming diplomats.
More than 2,000 university students from more than 110 countries around the world attend the conference every year.
“At times when the world sees all the possible negative aspects of our country, it was an honor for us to raise the name of Lebanon on the international stage and to show the world our true colors,” Alec Acaf, member-at-large of the AUB Model U.N. Club (AUBMUN), was quoted by AUB‘s Office of Communications as saying after the win.
During the conference, which was held virtually from February 25th to March 1st, AUBMUN members debated the world’s most pressing issues as they simulated the roles of representatives of the highest U.N. agencies and bodies.
The Lebanese attendees were AUBMUN President Mounia El-Khawand, who served as chair of the delegation, AUBMUN Vice-President Stephanie Nassar, in addition to Sarah El-Abd, Jirji Haddad, Michel Sadek, Mark Nourallah, Alec Acaf, Karen Sreih, and Maurice Haddad.
Not only did the Lebanese group win the Best Delegation Award, but each of Nassar, El-Abd, Haddad, Sadek, and Acaf received individual awards for winning against other delegates from prominent universities around the world.
The historic win came to be despite the challenges that the Lebanese delegation had to deal with during the event.
These challenges included a bad internet connection, a 7-hour time difference (the conference schedule used Eastern Standard Time), and an initial financial obstacle that was bypassed.
Dr. Zeinab Mirza, the faculty advisor of AUBMUN, said the win “reflects the true color of our university, its education, and the impact of its clubs’ culture.”
