Converse Students Earn Top Awards at International Model NATO
At International Model NATO, held in Washington, DC, Converse competes with top American universities from across the nation, and nine European and Canadian universities. Garnering top awards in every committee and in most cases by both Converse delegations, Converse compiled one of its more impressive performances at the 2017 Model.
Converse’s France delegation was named Outstanding Delegation and the College’s Slovenia delegation earned honors as Distinguished Delegation. Award winners for France were Natalie Southgate in the North Atlantic Council (NAC); and the teams of Danielle Fandre and Tinsley Burris-Henry in the Political Committee; Melissa Brock and Rachel Hopp in the Military Committee; Laura Gill and Verity Grupe (both freshmen) in the Partnership and Cooperative Security Committee; and Kathleen Langbehn and Tiffani Hagan in the Security Concerns Committee. On the Slovenia delegation, awards went to Grace Frazor in the North Atlantic Council; and the teams of Abigail Hill and Jamie Means in the Military Committee; Claudia Coffin and Sabrina Greene in the Partnership and Cooperative Security Committee; Melissa Rickenbaker and Jacqueline Torres in the Nuclear Committee; and Alexis Turner and Errin Baylis in the Security Concerns Committee.
Garnering top awards in every committee and in most cases by both Converse delegations, Converse compiled one of its more impressive performances at the 2017 Model.
“Two achievements are particularly notable,” commented Model NATO advisor Dr. Joe P. Dunn. “Both Converse delegates winning in the NAC is remarkable because all schools put their single best delegates on this committee, and it is always a challenging feat to win an award there; this year we registered two. Also while all the other committee awards are voted by their peers, the faculty choses one person (sometimes a second one) in each committee whom they believe provided the best leadership to the success of the committee. This often goes to a lower profile delegate who works behind the scenes. Besides being voted as the Outstanding Delegation in the Political Committee by their peers for their high profile performance, the faculty chose both Danielle Fandre and Tinsley Burris-Henry for the Leadership Award.”
Converse provides students each year to serve as the Secretariat, which runs the entire Model. Sidney Jones served as Secretary General and Carson McCallum served as Assistant Secretary General and Chair of NAC. Emily Holbert and Jessica Morgan served as chairs and the faculty selected Jayda Means as the Outstanding Chair. “Catherine Parler ’16, who had served as Chief of Staff for three years for the Model, is living in Washington and was recruited to return to perform this invaluable role. Replacing her experience and expertise will be one of our largest challenges next year,” said Dunn.