THE INFORMER PAGE 2

MAY 27, 1992

Cap Students Bring Home Award from Model U.N.

For most people, a trip to New York City ends with a
suitcase full of Empire State Building erasers, Statue of Liberty
foam rubber headbands, and a few photos.

But 12 Capilano College students brought home a different
kind of souvenir from their trip to the Big Apple this semester: a
prestigious award from the National Model United Nations.

The students, who represented Cambodia in the week-long
mock debates held at the UN and the Grand Hyatt Hotel, were
awarded an honorable mention for outstanding preparation and
performance by a delegation to the NMUN. Approximately 1400
students from 150 universities and colleges from across North
America, Europe, and Japan attended this year’s conference.

According to the team moderator, Political Studies
instructor Cam Sylvester, the students’ achievements were
nothing less than phenomenal. “As is the nature of these
conferences, a number of teams are perennial award-winners
with budgets in the range of $60,000,” he said. “They might
attend three or four Model UNs a semester, sometimes for years
on end, and they seem to have as their main objective the
winning of those awards rather than role-playing as best they can
the foreign policy of the country they are representing.

“T specifically told our students to forget about the awards
and concentrate on articulating the Cambodian position, which
they did. But I guess they played their role so well, the awards
committee had no choice but to take notice of their efforts and
tecognize their preparation. The students certainly deserve a lot
of credit.”

All the team members were either enrolled in or had
previously completed Sylvester’s course in International
Organizations at Capilano. Preparation for the conference,
including weekly Sunday night meetings during the spring
semester, counted towards requirements for the course.

As mock-delegates for the Cambodian government, two
students sat on each of five committees in the UN. Throughout
the week, each pair debated three issues on its committee’s
agenda with pairs of students representing 150 other countries.
Tyler Garnes and Marco Mucci, for instance, were delegates to
the Plenary Committee, which dealt with issues such as the
repatriation of cultural artifacts and permanent membership on
the Security Council.

The students were also responsible for crafting resolutions
which they hoped would both push for Cambodia’s position and
garner enough support from other delegates to pass a vote.

Cap College student Sujit Chowdhury was chosen in a
separate competition to play the Korean judge on the Model
International Court of Justice. The NMUN executive
subsequently requested he apply for a staff position next year
based on his outstanding performance in arguing his case to the
court.

“T sat in on much of the debate and Sujit gave one of the top
three performances on the court,” Sylvester said. “That’s really
quite impressive considering that since we don’t yet teach a
course specifically on International Law at Cap, Sujit had to do

all his work outside the classroom, and most of the other 14
judges he was up against on the ICJ were third year law
students.”

Natasha Pateman, a graduate of Cap and now an honors
student in Political Science at UBC, served as head delegate.

Unfortunately, because the conference is traditionally
scheduled for the Easter break for American universities,
students on this years’ delegation had the added pressure of
leaving for New York in the middle of exam week. That meant
they were busy writing papers early, or taking exams a day or
two after the plane flight home.

Sylvester also noted that students were burdened with a high
bill for the trip because previous funding from both the College
and the federal government has declined in recent years.

This is the third year a delegation from Capilano College has
attended the NMUN in New York City. Cap students have also
participated in the model UN held in Toronto.

— by Cam Sylvester

Spring Grad

Spring Graduation ceremonies were held in the Sportsplex
Saturday, May 23. Over 700 students in the Career/Vocational
and Academic divisions were awarded with certificates and
diplomas. University Transfer student Tania Wallace was
valedictorian for the Academic Division, and Tina Alto, who
graduated from the Accelerated Administrative Management
Program, spoke on behalf of the Career Vocational Division.

Several awards and medals were presented. Book awards
went to Yara Ainsworth, Commerce; Peter Raabe, English;
Moira Haagen, History; Peter Raabe, Philosophy; Nathan Ng,
Mathematics and Physics; and Andre Seguin, Political Science.
Pen Awards were presented to outstanding grads in Business
Management. They went to Wendy McDonald, Lisa McCourt,
Maryse Imbeault, Rochelle Pires, and Frank Bouvette-Bains.

The Society of Management Accountants and Certified
General Accountants presented the CMA scholarship to Tammy
Taylor from the Financial Management Program. The CGA
scholarship went to Raymonde Delisle.

The Constance McGregor Memorial Scholarship, awarded
to a student who has achieved an excellent standing in social
sciences, was presented to Bonnie Campbell by the president of
the Capilano College Foundation, Darryl Collier.

The Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal given for high
academic achievement was presented to Raymonde Delisle. She
graduated from the Accelerated Financial Management Program
with a cumulative GPA of 4.27. Raymonde plans to become a
chartered accountant. The Governor General’s Academic
Collegiate Bronze Medal went to Nathan Ng, who achieved a
cumulative GPA of 4.25 in his last year at Cap. He plans to
become a math professor.