California State University, Northridge’s Model United Nations (MUN) team took several top honors for a third consecutive year, last month, at the 2015 National Model UN Conference in New York – the largest annual MUN conference in the world.

CSUN’s team won the coveted “Outstanding Delegation Award,” which is the highest team award of the conference. This award, which is given by the National Collegiate College Association, is a testament to the preparation and hard work the CSUN team exuded in formulating and proposing solutions to global and regional problems.

In addition to the “Outstanding Delegation Award,” CSUN students were also presented with numerous prestigious individual awards.

Siblings Blanca Martinez, a political science major, and Eric Martinez, a biology major, were each awarded the “Outstanding Delegate Award” in the General Assembly First Committee. This recognition was based on the students’ leadership in the General Assembly First Committee, working with other delegates to develop thorough working papers and resolutions. This year’s committee was very large – with more than 350 members – making it especially impressive that two CSUN Matadors were selected out of such a large pool of students, said Eric Martinez.

“I couldn’t be any more proud of our team and CSUN,” continued Martinez, a graduating senior. “Hours of work in and out of the classroom paid off and made us international champions. It was an honor to receive the highest possible accolades at the conference and to represent our school with distinguished universities around the world.”

Political science majors Jesus Martinez and Xochitl Medrano were awarded the “Outstanding Position Paper Award” in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Committee. This award was in recognition of their rigorous research and detailed paper on international human rights issues, which they analyzed from their assigned country, Senegal.

Saleem Hawatmeh and Hoory Minoyan, political science majors, were each awarded the “Outstanding Delegate Award” on the rights of the Palestinian people. This award was given in the Committee of the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The students presented speeches, and played leadership roles on the committee.

“CSUN’s delegation performed with extraordinary diligence and worked tirelessly prior to the conference,” said Keiko Harata, a professor within the Department of Political Science. “During the conference they worked around the clock, even holding midnight team meetings for further planning.”

Team leaders and political science majors Jesus Martinez-Ramirez and Andrew Heineman played vital leadership roles, assisting and preparing other students, said Harata.

Over the past nine years, CSUN delegates have won more than 207 individual and team awards and more than 46 local, regional, national and international conferences. Since 2002, the CSUN MUN team has regularly received top honors and awards at the annual national New York conference.

For more information about MUN please visit:

http://www.csun.edu/social-behavioral-sciences/political-science/model-un-program

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Political Science