“I was being very disrespectful and not listening to the announcer, because, of course, I didn’t think I was going to win an award. Then they announced, ‘Justice Daudet!’ and I just sat there for a minute until Ryan Peene slapped me, and I said, ‘Oh God, that’s me!’” senior Alex Diamond said.
At the Washington State Model United Nations (WASMUN) Conference on March 2 and 3, Diamond won the Distinguished Delegate award—a highly valued award given to one delegate in her committee—for her work as Justice Yves Daudet in the International Court of Justice.
At WASMUN, delegates from all over the Northwest gathered to represent various nations from the United Nations in committees ranging from the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to the Human Rights Council, working together to provide solutions to current international issues.
Diamond wasn’t alone in her stellar work at WASMUN. Senior Ryan Peene and junior Dan Noble, representing the Republic of Moldova and Yemen respectively, also won Distinguished Delegate awards in the General Assembly, Third Committee. They were the only two out of around 70 delegates in their committee to win this award.
“I was surprised that I won an award, because I saw a lot of delegates there who did a really good job,” Peene said. “I think that anyone there could have won an award; there were a lot of smart, intelligent people, and it feels amazing that I was distinguished.”
WASMUN was Peene and Noble’s second MUN conference. Both attended the Pacific United Nations Conference last November.
“It fell well-deserved because I put an unparalleled amount of research into understanding Yemen for this conference,” Noble said.
However, Liberty’s excellent showing at WASMUN wasn’t the only thing that made it special. Liberty alumni Sabrina Suen and Megan Eu were members of the WASMUN Secretariat, the group of UW students who create and run the entire conference.
“It’s definitely something to look up to. They’re a great reminder that hey, this club you love, MUN, you can keep doing in college. It doesn’t have to end when you graduate,” Diamond said. “WASMUN is also the oldest conference in Washington state, so it was fun to be a part of history, to be a part of these multiple levels of Liberty students and Liberty alumni.”