Three students from Earlham’s 25-member delegation to the Lake Erie International Model United Nations Conference (LEIMUN) in Cleveland, OH, came away with top prizes.

The three award recipients — Yim Rodriguez, a sophomore from Peru, received the Gavel Prize, and first-years Jelena Juras and Shani Hines, who received Excellent Delegate Prizes — are among 10 students enrolled in a course entitled “Past, Present and Future of the United Nations,” which is student-taught by junior Ivan Babic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The additional 15 students who participated in LEIMUN are members of Earlham’s Model United Nations Club.

“Everyone did an amazing job,” says Babic, who serves as secretary general of the club. “Everyone was actively participating, and I was so proud I thought my heart might explode.”

Model UN conferences are academic simulations of the United Nations. For the simulation, students represent a country on one of the UN committees and through research are expected to debate the relevant issues and pass resolutions. Juras and Hines, who represented the Philippines, earned their awards by accumulating points based on their portrayal of country, caucusing and resolution writing, debate and parliamentary procedure. The Committee Chair handed out Rodriguez’s gavel award.

“Participating in Model UN improves creative and critical thinking, public speaking and negotiation skills,” Babic says. “You learn about the global picture of the world while taking an active part in topics that are current.”

LEIMUN was the first UN conference for all of the award winners.

“The Philippines delegation put many hours of work into our preparation,” says Juras, who is a Red Cross Youth Delegate and has been involved with the Red Cross at home in Croatia and in Canada. “At the same time, I had a broad knowledge about the topics as a Red Cross delegate. I was able to answer many technical questions about how things are done on the field. It was very hard for other delegations to find something about Red Cross that I did not know. Sometimes I was correcting other delegations because they were presenting wrong information.”

Model UN simulations are extremely rigorous. “Basically you are in a room from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. arguing, trying to convince, and trying to pass a resolution,” Babic says. “It is so intense.”

Because of scheduling conflicts, Professor of Politics Welling Hall was unable to teach the Model UN class, which opened the door for Babic. During spring semester, Babic worked with Hall to prepare for the class, and he created the syllabus during the summer.

“I have to say that classes were very well planned and that Ivan did a great job,” Juras says. “Our prizes say more than enough and confirm the great effort that Ivan put in the class.”

Babic is a computer science major and politics minor and may have an interest in teaching.

“I like the idea of transferring my knowledge to other students and being a resource,”Babic explains. “I really loved it and to have the opportunity to do that eight years early is incredible.

 “Teaching is a lot more work than I anticipated,” Babic says. “Everything took more time — preparing for lectures or planning discussions, even grading papers took hours because I wanted to be fair and offer suggestions whenever someone missed something.”

Earlham hosts regional high school students for a weekend MUN conference. The Earlham College Model United Nations (ECMUN) is January 27 and 28. Earlham’s MUN Club members initiate and complete all the logistical and programmatic arrangements for this annual event.  Ten area high schools and more than 160 students have registered for ECMUN 2012.  

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