Model UN Team Honored in New York City

SAN BERNARDINO >> Cal State San Bernardino’s (CSUSB) Model United Nations team continued its tradition of excellence at the 2016 National Model United Nations Conference in New York City earlier this year, taking home a Distinguished Delegation award and four Outstanding Paper awards. In addition, the team’s faculty adviser, Kevin Grisham, addressed the closing session of the conference in the United Nations’ (UN) General Assembly Hall in his role as the vice president of the National Collegiate Conference Association, sponsor of National Model UN conferences globally. The student delegates’ experience at the conference, Grisham said, will help in stopping “the forces of negativity” everyone encounters. The New York Model UN Conference, which was held in the last week of March is the largest in the world, with more than 5,000 college and university students — more than half from outside the United States — participating each spring to discuss current global issues. The conference has grown so large that it is split into two events a week apart to accommodate all the colleges and universities that participate. Delegates attend the conference prepared to solve three pressing issues relevant to 21 simulated UN committees, with the UN Headquarters as a backdrop. CSUSB, which this year represented the Republic of South Africa, is annually one of the top programs at the conference. The Distinguished Delegation award placed the team of 21 students in the top 30 percent of the universities and colleges that participated in the national conference’s second session. “We were also one of only a handful of universities from the Western U.S. who won any awards and also one of only five Cal State University campuses at this venue to win,” said Grisham, an assistant professor in CSUSB’s geography and environmental studies department. The delegation awards are determined by a set of criteria that include student delegates remaining in character of the nation or non-governmental organization they represent, participating in committee, and proper use of the rules of procedure. The team earned the Outstanding Paper awards in four of the 12 committees to which it was assigned. “This particular award is only given to less than 20 percent of those attending the conference and is awarded for the preparation the students do prior to the conference, which is reflected in a two-page summary of their assigned country’s position of particular topics,” Grisham said. “This is a huge accomplishment for this team because only six out of the 21 team members had ever done Model UN prior to this conference,” he said. “To have this kind of success is unheard of with such a new team. It is high credit to their hard work since late last December until yesterday (March 30) as the committee sessions concluded.” While Grisham often shines the spotlight on the students, this year he had his own moment: addressing the student delegates at the closing session on March 31, which took place in the UN’s General Assembly Hall. He spoke not as a faculty adviser, but as the Nation Commission Certifying Agency’s vice president. He recalled for the students his own days when he sat in the very same seats as a delegate on a Cal State San Bernardino Model UN team. “As I look out into this great hall, where pivotal events have occurred over and over again, and see the faces of the world before me, I am reminded of my first time in National Model United Nations, and coming to New York City in 1997,” he said. “As we drove into the city from the airport and the New York City skyline came into view, little did I know this experience would become a life-long passion, and the five days of the National Model UN Conference would change my life forever as a student and as a member of humanity. Never would I have imagined that I would be speaking to you today in this great hall at that time.” Grisham recalled another event — the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino that left 14 people dead, five of whom were CSUSB graduates, plus the two terrorists, one of whom also was a CSUSB graduate — that prompted him to think about his experience with the Model UN. “In the days after the attacks, I thought to myself, ‘What could I have done to stop this evil act? What could we have done to direct this young man and this young woman away from a dark path of destruction and towards a path of good and peace?’” Grisham said. “As a member of the Model UN global family, I thought to myself if only he had been a part of this amazing experience. Maybe he would have seen the good in others, and the diversity of others, which makes our global community so rich. “But as I have had time to reflect more on both this tragedy, the tragedies in Paris, in Lebanon, Ankara, Lahore and Brussels, and many others like it that occur around the globe daily, I have begun to realize it is more important to focus on how this experience – the one you have had this week and thousands upon thousands of other students have had before you – may have stopped others from going down dark paths in their own lives,” he said. “I started to realize we actually have and continue to do a lot more, than we will ever realize by being a part of this experience.” "The few days that student delegates dedicated themselves to the mission of global citizenship and global education was the start of them making an impact in the world," Grisham said. "The skills of diplomacy, negotiation, coalition-building, communication, will not only serve them personally but with those they come into contact with." “And it is through this sharing, you may help someone to realize the good in people and the amazing capacity of humankind and may – in your own way – stop the forces of negativity that we are often bombarded with on our television screens, across our electronic devices, and in some cases, sadly, in our own daily lives,” he said. “In choosing this experience, you have chosen to be an ambassador for good, an ambassador for peace, and know this good will permeate all of those whom you interact with daily,” Grisham said. “In dedicating yourself to getting to know more about others outside of your community, you will make a change in this world.” And finally, he urged them all to be the bearers of light. “As we all leave from New York City and travel back to our homes, I would hope each and every one of us will remember the following. Good always triumphs over negativity, and knowledge, understanding and compassion are the ultimate weapons against negativity in the world,” Grisham said. “As said by Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai in this same building in 2013, ‘We realize the importance of light when we see darkness. We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced.’ “We have seen a lot of darkness this past year,” he said. “But instead of focusing on the dark, see the light that shines through all of this darkness. Take the knowledge and experience of this week and raise your voices. Do not be silent or be silenced. And be the light of understanding the world needs now. Be the ambassadors of peace, understanding and compassion the world deserves.” CSUSB MODEL UNITED NATIONS TEAM, REPRESENTING THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: •Jacqueline Sanchez, English, literature track •Alex Apodaca, administration-accounting concentration •Dusty Wilson, economics and psychology •Juan Hernandez, history-teaching track •Kevin Gema, master of business administration-management •Omar Morquecho, political science •Nancy Palafox, geography-global studies •Casandra Phelps, administration-international business •Lizzet Pineda, environmental studies •Jasmine Reza, administration-human resources concentration and Arabic language, literature and culture •Tiffany Patel, biology, pre-med and chemistry •Sarah Hudson, social science and globalization master of arts •Jimmy Valenzuela, administration-marketing concentration and administration-sports and entertainment marketing •Anthony Turkson, sociology-social service track •Ginger Hartman, administration-marketing concentration and public administration •Jiapeng Zhao, administration-finance Concentration, international student from China •Dominique Dixon, biology, pre-med, national student exchange from Alabama State University •Olivier Orengo, kinesiology-exercise science, international student from France •Megan Medeiros, social science and globalization master of arts •Eric Lowe, history, teaching track To learn more about the Model United Nations program, which is housed in the university’s department of geography and environmental studies, visit the NMUN website and the CSUSB Model UN and Model Arab League website. To contribute to the CSUSB Model UN and Model Arab League programs, contact Kevin Grisham at kgrisham@csusb.edu or (909) 537-7569. Set in the foothills of the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains, CSUSB is a preeminent center of intellectual and cultural activity in inland Southern California. Celebrating its 50 th anniversary in 2015-2016, CSUSB serves more than 20,000 students each year and graduates about 4,000 students annually. For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact CSUSB’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.