Saint Stephen’s Upper School students competed at the 12th annual Columbia Model United Nations Conference and Exhibition for four days last week, with awards going to junior Megan Carr and sophomores Dylan Patterson and Tim Macchi.

This year, twelve students were given a position to be delegates in ten different committees dealing with American Foreign Policy, where students were tasked with averting a war with China. Others had to solve fictional problems set in Heaven and Hell.

Captain junior Megan Carr said that overall, she was happy with this year’s team, as all the teammates got along.

“We all seemed really focused on what our task was,” she said.

Carr said normally the CMUNCE team does one trip a year, while other schools attend up to six or ten. Carr added that it was a great accomplishment to win three awards with only a twelve-member team.

“We performed really well, considering the constraints,” she said.

Freshman Joe Class, who was attending the conference for the first time, said he enjoyed the social part of the trip. Class was a part of the Taiping Rebellion, a joint crisis where he worked for the rebel side.

The most challenging part of his first committee, he said, “was the amount of directives passed during the proceedings.” Class added that he was very happy to be a part of the CMUNCE team and got the most out of his first committee experience.

“The committee I was in was very small, so I wasn’t afraid of speaking,” he said.

Upper School History teacher and the team’s coach Ms. Patricia Murphy said this year the competition was especially tense, with the largest Columbia Model UN conference to his date.

“Of the 56 schools in attendance, 12 teams [were] ranked in the top 20 schools nationally,” she said.

As for the team, Ms. Murphy said she was delighted with how the students had a competitive spirit and “were a joy to be around.”

2013 CMUNCE team:

Megan Carr (Capt.)

Shubham Mathur

Lidia Kurganova

Caitlin Brown

Tim Macchi

Kevan Patel

Garret Barnes

Dylan Patterson

Jenna Turner

Emiliano Concha-Toro

Curtis Stump

Joe Class