The Department of Government, Public Service, and International Studies hosted the 59th Arkansas Model United Nations (AMUN) conference at the University of Central Arkansas on November 22-23, 2024. More than 500 delegates from 29 high schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri participated in the conference. Julien Mrad served as Secretary-General, and Jaylan Harris served as Deputy Secretary-General of the conference. Several UCA students, as well as students from Hendrix College and the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, served as committee chairs, co-chairs, and legal counsels. Dr. Mark Elrod served as AMUN Conference Coordinator, and Dr. Mark Mullenbach served as AMUN Faculty Advisor Liaison.
During the opening session held in Ida Waldran Auditorium in Main Hall on Friday, November 22nd, UCA President Houston Davis gave the welcoming address to the participating delegates. In addition, six students nominated by their faculty advisors gave delegate speeches during the opening session, including Jana Abuelem (Pulaski Academy), Landen Coursey (Alma High School), Jacey Hale (Bryant High School), Seaghan Schrock (Haas Hall Academy-Fayetteville), Zaid Tell (Conway High School), and Ridhi Unni (Haas Hall Academy-Bentonville).
During the closing session, the nine students who were elected Rapporteurs in their respective committees were recognized for speeches, including Kaitlyn Billera (People’s Republic of China), Michael Redlich (Ecuador), Solomon Naraine (Mauritania), Ridhi Unni (Turkey), Nyera Ali (People’s Republic of China), Patrick Sanders (Mauritania), Landen Coursey (United Kingdom), Issac Huckaba (United States of America), and Mustfa Zia (United States of America). In addition, the Outstanding Delegates for each of the committees were recognized during the closing session — Ryder Smith (United Arab Emirates) and Kaitlyn Billera (People’s Republic of China) – DISEC; Brody Mercer (United States of America) and Andrew Hayes (Mauritania) – ECOFIN; Daniel Chen (People’s Republic of China) and Solomon Naraine (Mauritania) – SOCHUM; Ahaan Bhardwaj (Bahrain) and Vesper Schumaker (Canada) – Novice GA Committee; Jack Lowenthal (People’s Republic of China) and Dylan Mercer (United States of America) – ECOSOC; Bhavana Gudipati (Indonesia) and Nyera Ali (People’s Republic of China) – HRC; Aarush Goyal (Saudi Arabia) and Balasankar Seenivasan (Germany) – Executive Board of the WFP; Salma Eid (Sierra Leone) and Landen Coursey (United Kingdom) – Security Council; Jana Abuelem (People’s Republic of China) and Paul Jonsek (Romania) – Historical Security Council; and Shruthi Nannapaneni (Lebanon) and Mustfa Zia (United States of America) – MICJ.
Following the conference, the delegation representing the People’s Republic of China (Pulaski Academy) was presented the Outstanding Delegation award. The delegations representing the United States of America (Conway High School) and Mauritania (Rockhurst High School) were presented the Outstanding Delegation Runner-Up awards. Fourteen additional delegations were presented the Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention awards, including Afghanistan (Little Rock Central High School), Bangladesh (Pulaski Academy), Belgium (Maumelle Charter High School), Brazil (Bryant High School), Democratic Republic of Congo (Haas Hall Academy-Fayetteville), Ecuador (Rockhurst High School), El Salvador (Liberty High School), Germany (Little Rock Central High School), Kuwait (Pulaski Academy), Republic of Korea (Conway High School), Saudi Arabia (ASMSA), Spain (Little Rock Central High School), Sweden (Bryant High School), and Syria (Conway High School).
