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With his speech in hand, his arguments highlighted, and dressed in his best beige linen suit, junior Mateo Lowe walked into the first day of committee, shaking off the nerves to speak at Columbia University at the Jan. 12 Model United Nations Conference.

“If I am being honest, my first day was worse than I expected it to be. I walked in and immediately realized everyone had prepared just as much as I had. It would be very competitive from the beginning,” Lowe said.

Despite his first day being rather rough, Lowe prepared for his second day with his friends who gave him the support and encouragement he needed to push through.

“Without the support of my teammates, I do not think that my performance at the conference would have been successful,” Lowe said.

Through preparing speeches, researching, and drafting statements, Lowe recovered from the challenges he faced on his first day and went on to earn 2nd place out of 28 delegates.

“It felt extremely fulfilling to get 2nd place, because I put a lot of work into this conference. I owe a lot of it to Mr. Santelices for being such a good mentor and a source of motivation,” Lowe said.

Club sponsor Manuel Santelices helped all of the students that participated to prepare and research, allowing them to do their best.

“The students dive deep into the particular issue that is handed to them, and I see them working long hours to prepare and construct their arguments. I do my best to make sure that they are not only prepared with their data, but prepared to speak in front of an audience,” Santelices said.

In Santelices’ class, the Model UN students executed “mock trials” to help them prepare for when real conferences arose. For junior Eloisa Ortiz, all the inclass preparation helped her excel in her conference experience.

“We spent around two weeks prior to the conference practicing and getting all of our information ready, and I think that was crucial to us getting an Honorable Mention,” Ortiz said.

Story by Andrea Lahrssen