MSU’s Model United Nations team, the International Relations Organization, or IRO, was ranked among the top 10 college teams in the world.
The ranking was compiled by bestdelegate.com, a website operated by a group of Model U.N. alumni from around the world that provides current members with advise on how to make the most of their experience and use it toward their future.
The rankings are calculated based on the delegation awards and total awards won by each team at every North American conference.
This year’s team came home with more awards than any other Model U.N. team in MSU’s history, one award winner being political theory and constitutional democracy senior Joe Habib.
“We performed excellent all year round,” Habib said. “I knew that we were going to be top-10 ranked after our president, Tom Nally, and myself picked up best delegate awards at (the McGill Model United Nations competition) in Montreal giving MSU IRO an outstanding delegation award. It was also our first in history.”
The remainder of the top 10 list is predominantly made up of Ivy League schools.
The IRO’s competition includes teams from Harvard University, Yale University, Georgetown University and the University of Chicago.
The team doesn’t have an official coach, but the executive board members of the IRO, as well as other older members, train new members.
IRO member Amara Manoogian, a international relations and comparative cultures and politics sophomore, said that she felt peer advising contributed to the team’s success.
“A lot of the upperclassmen made sure to mentor the younger students so we’d make sure we knew what we were doing,” she said. “I think that helped us a lot.”
Social relations and policy and psychology major Dane Dario said the team was driven by determination.
“It’s that Spartan will to fight as hard as you can to get what you want and achieve exactly what it is you’re going for,” he said.
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