UNC Pembroke's Model United Nations team, attending its first in-person conference in two years, came home with six awards after a hard-fought weekend at the Southern Regional Model United Nations (SRMUN) Conference held in Atlanta on November 18-20.

The conference hosted approximately 400 students from 40 colleges and universities.



UNCP, which sent 15 students to Atlanta, representing the United States and Chile, and won team awards for outstanding performance and outstanding position papers. In addition, two individual delegates won separate awards. Katie Manueles won for writing the best position paper in her committee, and Dom Feaster won an award as an outstanding delegate.



For the previous three semesters, conferences have been held either virtually or canceled altogether. Of UNCP's 15 delegates, only four of them had Model UN experience, and none had competed in an on-site conference.



"I couldn't be prouder of our team," said UNCP Model UN faculty advisor Kevin Freeman. "We took a team with a lot of first-time delegates and came home with several accolades. This team worked hard preparing for this event, and it showed from the moment they began the conference."

UNCP’s delegation included Fiona Allen, Aspen Andersson, John Bourgeios, Dylan Garner, Yamil Hernandez Sanchez, Miyah Lawrence, Ashton Locklear, Amber Marlow, Whitney Peck, Hannah Peck, Renee Smith, Kejrsten Wildee and Devin Green.

The Model UN team next competes at the spring SRMUN conference in April in Charlotte.