Benedictine students earn multiple honors at Model U.N. conference

LISLE – Benedictine University students were recognized for representing the African nations of Seychelles and Lesotho in mid-April at a National Model U.N. conference in New York, according to a university news release.

A team of seven Benedictine students and seven students from Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, China, received the Distinguished Delegation award and three Outstanding Position Paper awards for their representation of Seychelles.

Northwest Polytechnical is a Benedictine partnership school. The team worked online to prepare for the conference.

“Our students genuinely cared about and for each other, and this enabled the close working relationship that resulted in the recognition of their efforts in representing the interests of this small island state,” said Benedictine political science professor Joel M. Ostrow in the release.

Additionally, Benedictine's independent delegation of 23 students representing Lesotho earned an Honorable Mention Delegation award and an Outstanding Position Paper award.

“In each of the 12 committees on which they sat, our Lesotho delegates were true leaders, gathering together coalitions to negotiate innovative approaches to resolving major global problems,” Ostrow said in the release. “As was the case with our joint delegation of Seychelles, students from other universities representing other states consistently sought out the Benedictine delegation because of their mastery of conference rules and impressive grasp of the substantive issues.”

---

Student participants

• Ginan Akel, of Roselle

• Jimmy Moffitt, of Clawson, Mich.

• Wajeeha Ariya Siddiqui, Elgin

• Christina Dister, of Naperville

• Mady Gabriel, of Aurora

• Rebecca Socha, of Chicago

• Julio Lopez, of Plainfield

• Andy Rainville, of Frankfort

• Joe Sanders, of Springfield

• Alex Adkins, of Somonauk

• Ayesha Afsar, of Hanover Park

• Jade Beadle, of Lemont

• Michael Boguszewski, of Roselle

• Genevieve Borowski, of Chicago

• Quentin Florido, of Chicago

• Justin Glavanovits, of Lisle

• Shantell Hernandez, of Plainfield

• Qyle Iftikhar, of Darien

• Maya Kanaan, of Bloomingdale

• Omehabiba Khan, of Glendale Heights

• Zara Khan, of Carol Stream

• Paul Kulhavy, of Darien

• Roman Mohammed, of Bolingbrook

• Mahira Musani, of Bolingbrook

• Meghan Nolan, of Bensenville

• Yara Rashad, of Orland Park

• Stephanie Rhinesmith, of Glen Ellyn

• Sara Riegel, of Bonfield

• Elisabeth Shinstine, of Burbank

• Richard Singletary II, of Cary

• Mason Williams, of Addison

• Michelle Yasmine, of Carol Stream