FIU's Model UN team remains one of the top five teams in its circuit, ranked #4 in North America for the fifth year in a row by BestDelegate.com.
After the team tripled in size over the past year, it now competes regularly as a large delegation and took the Best Large Delegation award at the Boston Area Model UN Conference. This was the only time another team topped the University of Chicago this semester in terms of weighted score.
In January the team also won Best Large Delegation at McGill University's Model UN Conference in Montreal, as well as Outstanding Large Delegation at the Harvard Model UN competition in Boston. The FIU team also won competitions in San Francisco and Atlanta.
Best Delegate, the company responsible for publishing rankings remarked that, “The gap between Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and FIU was very small last fall after the team finished third at the University of Pennsylvania Model UN conference, third at National Collegiate Security Conference and fourth at Columbia Model UN in New York.”
Head delegate Kevin Markowski said it has been a challenge competing as a large delegation. However, the team has continued to shine.
“The biggest challenge for us has been moving from a team that has traditionally competed as a small delegation to now primarily competing as a large,'' said Markowski, an international relations major.
“Many teams are really stepping up this semester. The competition has truly brought out the best in our delegates, and we look forward to continuing to test ourselves this year.”
FIU remains the highest ranked team in Florida and the highest ranked of any public university in North America. “With Program Director Kristen Nyman's exceptional leadership, we have the finest team FIU has ever fielded,'' said John F. Stack, Jr., founding dean of the Green School. “I am proud to be a part of their outstanding accomplishments.”