Student diplomats compete at Harvard

A dozen Marksmen recently traveled across the country to hone their skills in international diplomacy. The members of St. Mark’s Model United Nations Club, accompanied by history instructors David Fisher and Andrea Hamilton, were among the 4,000 student delegates nationwide to attend the 2023 Harvard Model United Nations Conference (HMUN).

Two pairs of Marksmen received awards for their diplomatic service:

Noah Asmerom ’23 and Roome Becker ’23 won a Best Delegation award for representing the Russian Federation on the Future Security Council.
Dilan Koganti ’26 and Reagan Graeme ’26 won a Diplomatic Commendation award for representing Bangladesh in the UN Development Program Committee.

Now in its 70th year, HMUN is a four-day international relations simulation, giving high school students the opportunity to learn about diplomacy. Students represent different countries on a variety of committees to address a range of global topics, including the roles of NGOs, space technology, narcotic drugs, women in world affairs and future security concerns.

“Model UN introduces students not just to international affairs but to collaborative procedures for discussing contentious issues and proposing policy to address global problems,” said Fisher, who is the History and Social Science Department chair and a sponsor of the Model UN group. “The Harvard trip is the highlight of the year, but other events include a Dallas Area MUN, Central Texas MUN at UT Austin and our own school-sited conference scheduled in April.”

During their trip, the students also met up with several Marksmen graduates now attending Harvard University.