Over the Feb. 6-7 weekend, Model U.N. attended their second conference of the year, Model United Nations of the University of Chicago. The conference is run by students at the university and takes place at the Palmer House Hotel downtown, where the team members stayed for four days in order to compete.

The point of Model U.N. is to simulate the U.N. during certain time periods. The competition consists of five different types of committees: General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, Specialized Agencies, Regional Bodies, and Continuous Crisis Committees. Most students from Central participate in the general assembly, except for Hana Rimawi, who was part of the Press Corps (within Specialized Agencies), and Hadi Shiraz, who was part of the U.S. Senate (within Regional Bodies). Central represents the Philippines in the General Assembly.

“The way it works is that you are given a problem and then supposed to talk about your ideas and write solutions to solve the problems,” said Mita Ramani, senior.

Ramani was part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees within the General Assembly, which according to Ramani, consists of debating about conditions for urban refugees. Jacob Liu, a senior who was a part of the Economics and Finance Committee within the General Assembly, says that the simulation is a difficult one to compete.

“There were so many people who were very polished in their research,” Liu said.

Awards are given to the students who give the best performance in each committee. The staff member who oversees the committees decide these awards. The team made their own personal achievement by receiving more awards than they ever have before. Out of the 13 participants, Central won seven awards.

Ramani and her partner Serena Tolani won “Most Outstanding Delegate,” which correlates to first place. Ramani says that after three years in the club, nothing feels better than being validated for her hard work.

Although the conference was undoubtedly exciting, the most amusing parts seemed to happen outside of it. On Saturday, all but one member of the U.N. team got stuck in the hotel elevator for 45 minutes. The Chicago Fire Department had to rescue them with a crowbar. However, they shook it off by going ice skating later that night.