By Addie Woods

March 13, 2023

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Seven students from Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Political Science participated in the Midwest Model United Nations, held Feb. 22-25 in St. Louis, Mo. Each received recognition for excellence. 

Ouachita’s delegates were Caroline Derby, a senior communications & media/multimedia and political science double major from Arkadelphia, Ark.; Katie Henry, a junior political science and history double major from Little Rock, Ark.; Elise Hicks, a senior political science major from Benton, Ark.; Noah Sanders, a senior Christian studies/biblical studies & theology and political science double major from Little Rock, Ark.; Sarah Spakes, a senior political science and public history double major from Benton, Ark.; Kathryn Totty, a senior political science and media/strategic communications major from Camden, Ark.; and Emilee Webb, a junior English and political science double major from Leola, Ark. 

“This is the first year we’ve represented two or more countries where every student won recognition, either individually or as part of a delegation,” said Dr. Kevin Brennan, professor of political science at Ouachita. “To get any kind of recognition is challenging. It basically means you are in that upper group of countries.”

Derby, Sanders, Totty and Webb were recognized as a Distinguished Delegation, representing Sweden. Henry, Hicks and Spakes received an honorable mention as part of the Indonesia delegation.

Best Position Paper was awarded to four students representing their respective countries: Derby and Henry on the General Assembly’s First Committee, Sanders on the U.N. Environment Assembly Committee and Webb on the General Assembly’s Third Committee.

Additionally, Sanders received an honorable mention for his work on his committee. Hicks also received an honorable mention for her work on the General Assembly’s Third Committee. 

Model U.N. is based on the proceedings of the United Nations. At the conference, college students spend 12- to 14-hour days in formal and informal sessions working with different delegations, learning about parliamentary procedure and diplomacy and writing papers that provide solutions for some of the biggest problems facing the world today.

Ouachita’s 3-hour Model U.N. course is dedicated to preparing students for the annual simulation in St. Louis.

“They have article summaries due about specific topics that each of them will be discussing, and they have a lot of writing to do,” Brennan explained. “They present their article summaries in class, so they are doing as much talking in the course as I am.”

Participating for the first time this year, Webb found the conference to be a good learning experience and hopes to return in 2024. 

“We learned a lot about collaboration and how to work with people who don’t have the same ideas as we do. Each participant at the conference fought for the wants of our respective countries, so of course we didn’t always align with each other completely,” she said. “I learned that in order to reach a successful end product, collaboration and compromise are vital.”