At the Northwestern University Model United Nations Conference on April 9 to 11, Beachwood’s Model UN team won an award for outstanding small school delegation.

Several students also won individual awards: senior Lyndia Zheng won best delegate; sophomores Kevin Fu and Antoni Hinczewski won outstanding delegate and seniors Sasha Kheyfets and Adam Hamzah won honorable mention delegate awards. Sophomore Sarah Zhou was also recognized for best position paper.

English teacher Evan Luzar, who advises the club, was very happy about their performance and is proud of how club members have grown this year.

“The team has had a spectacular dynamic, it’s been a very close group,” Luzar said. “I’ve been very impressed, the kids are very enthusiastic and have a strong work ethic.” 

This is Luzar’s first year back after a 12-year hiatus. Social studies teacher Dominic Velotta advised the club for most of that time period.

“I was the adviser from 2002 to 2014,” Luzar said. “The students needed an adviser after Mr. Velotta [gave it up] and they reached out.”

MUN is structured around a model version of the United Nations General Assembly, where students represent different countries in real situations as well as various committees exploring specific issues.

In some cases, students can also play roles of historical or contemporary leaders.

The activity is dedicated to exploring the wide range of perspectives and resources in different nations across the globe. 

Beachwood delegates have gone from representing the United States in the General Assembly to fictional characters (such as Commander Cody from Star Wars) in crisis committee rooms.

As in the real United Nations, successful delegates are able to use persuasion to reach compromise; however, Model UN meetings tend to be much more chaotic and fast-paced than the real United Nations. 

Overall, Model United Nations provides an environment for its members to develop excellent public speaking and compromising skills. 

Senior Sasha Kheyfets, a member of the team’s exec board, explained that at each conference, students are tasked with researching the resources and policies of their assigned nation and developing a paper detailing their nation’s policy and what they can do to contribute to a solution.

“Debates can get very competitive in competitions,” Kheyfets said. “However, the team is very supportive of each other. Experienced members often partner with inexperienced members to guide them in what can be a very scary experience.”

According to Kheyfets, conferences this year have been limited due to multiple factors.

“There were some logistical issues and bad weather,” Kheyfets added. “The team was only able to compete at two conferences this season, when they usually compete at four.”

From Feb. 27 to March 1, the team competed at the Ohio State University with the largest contingent ever of 20 people. Ida Chang won a gavel for best delegate, Lyndia Zheng won superior delegate, and Sarah Zhou and Harlan Flake earned honorable mentions.

Kheyfets was happy with all the honors the team received

“Ultimately we did not win best delegation at OSU, but we plan to do better,” she said after the conference. “We have many impressive underclassmen including Antoni Hinczewski, Masha Tonyushkin, Clarence Ouyang and outstanding juniors Stella Roller and Alex Feuer participating in future conferences.”

The Model UN team works very hard to prepare for conferences, but that doesn’t stop them from having fun and enjoying themselves.

“We do a lot of team bonding, ranging from team pizza nights, ice cream socials, movie nights and karaoke nights…  during out-of-state conferences,” Kheyfets said.

This year, many core members of the team are moving on to college. However, they are confident that the younger members of the club will build on the good work they have started.

“Though I am graduating this year, I am reassured to leave the club under the great leadership of juniors Harlan Flake and Ritika Iyer and wish them the best of luck for the upcoming season,” Kheyfets said. 

Luzar feels that this year’s team has a great deal of potential in the next few years.

“Every team is different,” he said. “However, this team is very youthful and has shown a lot of promise, so it’s looking good for the future.”

He is glad to have returned to advising the team.

“The kids involved are great, they do a lot of meaningful work,” he said. “Model UN really gives them the opportunity they need to grow. It allows them to continue the process, build on past experiences and improve.”