NAIMUN XLVII took place over Valentine’s Day weekend, February 11-14th, 2010. While Snowpocalypse practically incapacitated all activity on the Hilltop, NAIMUN’s brave secretariat forged ahead with their plans to continue with the conference. Even amidst the worst storm DC has seen since the nineteenth century, over two thousand excited delegates, some from as far as China, poured into the Hilltop on Thursday and Friday, determined to compete despite the circumstances. The incredible effort of Secretary General Ena Dekanic and Executive Director Matt Shapiro as well as the rest of the NAIMUN staff certainly paid off—the conference was a resounding success and ran so smoothly that Snowpocalypse was nearly forgotten.

The quality of the committees, which ranged from ECOSOCS such as the Committee on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to courts such as Abu Ghraib, was excellent, as the staff exerted its best effort to making the conference a success.  The delegates were stimulated not only by the stellar debate this year, but also by an address from Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius during the opening ceremony, appearances from Georgetown alumni who guest-chaired in some of the committees, and a dedicated general staff who ensured that the needs of the delegates were taken care of.

This year’s charity, Save the Children, raised $18,500, thanks to generous delegates and a creative staff, who gave small incentives (such as an entire dais doing a dance, a chair getting a make-over, etc.) for the delegates to donate.  This is an incredible amount, as it is almost twice the amount that was raised last year, and also with fewer delegates due to the snow. Anupam Chakravarty, who promised delegates in the Save or Shave campaign that he would cut his hair is more money were raised in the “shave” bucket than in the “save” bucket, said goodbye to his beautiful locks at the end of the conference and now sports a much shorter ‘do.  Kudos to Kelsie Wilhelm for such a successful outcome to all her effort this year for the chairty.

The conference ended with Mira Costa High School winning Best Large Delegation and Cerritos High School winning best small. Congratulations to both teams!

Congratulations also to Matt, Ena, and the rest of the amazing Secretariat for hosting such a successful conference.  NAIMUN: 1. Snowpocalpyse: 0.

Rachel Farell

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