Converse Maintains Winning Tradition for Fourteenth Year
With seven committee awards, two more than its next competitor, Converse garnered approximately 25% of all awards given to the 24 participating schools at the National Model Arab League, held March 27-29, 2009 at Georgetown University. Unfortunately one of those awards did not count for the Converse Egypt delegation.
Converse took its freshmen to the National Model for the first time in several years, and with an abundance of delegates, Converse contributed two freshmen to a joint delegation representing the observer nation of Eritrea. This delegation comprised of George Washington University, York College, Northeastern, and Converse students.
Freshman Krystal Jackson beat out her two Converse teammates in the Economic Council for the committee award which counted for the Eritrea delegation. In the final mathematical calculations, Mercer University representing Lebanon, nosed out the Converse Egypt delegation by a fraction. Converse had to settle for second place, but it was extremely pleased by its dominating performance.
Two weeks earlier at the Southeast Model Arab League the roles had been reversed with Converse taking the #1 slot and Mercer was cited as an Honorable Mention delegation. Dr. Joe Dunn, the Converse faculty sponsor stated, “I am very pleased for Mercer University. They have a wonderful adviser and some great kids. They have been a valued member at the Southeast Model for many years and things fell in place for them nicely this year. It was a richly deserved honor for both them and all of us who compete together at the Southeast Model.” About his Converse delegation, he remarked, “We may have finished second, but it was one of our strongest performances ever over the whole broad range of the committees. We demonstrated great strength in every committee. If I had made the call, we should have taken even more awards because I do not know how a couple of our people were not selected as the number one person in their committee.”
Converse had two-person teams in each committee. Award winners were Megan Madison and Hilary Koss in the Palestinian Council, Monica Lineberger and Liz Andrews in the Social Council, Amber Lautenschlager and Laurann Gallitto in the Environmental Council, and Katie Moore and Amy Peele in the Special Summit of the Arab Ministers of Justice. Katelyn Ridenour took awards as both an advocate (arguing a case) and a justice (deciding cases) in the Arab Court of Justice. Anna Owens served as the Assistant Secretary-General and Chelsey Boggs served as the Chief Justice of the Arab Court of Justice. For the 2010 National Model, Liz Andrews was selected as Assistant Secretary General, Anna Owens will chair the Joint Defense Council and Ridgley Beckett will chair the Political Committee. A sample of the participating schools in the National Model include Northwestern University, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Pittsburgh, George Washington University, Northeastern University, George Mason University, the Universities of Utah, Arkansas, Houston, Miami, the Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and the American University of Cairo.
