St. Petersburg College’s Model United Nations (MUN) team brought home accolades from the 2024 National Model United Nations (NMUN) DC Conference. The team won the Distinguished Award (10 students, Uruguay) and the Honorable Mention Award (8 students, Iran) at the NMUN DC 2024 conference. These are prestigious team awards.

The Uruguay delegation was in the top 14% with only 12 of 90 delegations having higher scores. The Iranian delegation was in the top 29% with only 26 of 90 delegations having higher scores.

Additionally, out of the 17 community colleges and small liberal arts colleges at the conference (73 were universities), only three institutions won the Outstanding or Distinguished team awards, and SPC was one of them. It’s impressive that SPC students primarily compete with four-year universities, and do so well against such top-notch talent.

Overall, SPC students did a magnificent job. SPC MUN faculty were inspired by their continuous advances in public speaking and research/writing. However, what most impressed us was the tenacity and perseverance they showed to overcome the challenges they faced.

As many can imagine, the two hurricanes that recently affected Pinellas County greatly impacted the preparation and work timeline for students ahead of the conference. Nonetheless, they rose to the occasion and did a magnificent job collaborating, being positive, and were a joy to work with.

SPC’s MUN faculty includes Dr. Bledar Prifti, Dr. Bill Fleming, Dr. Roberto Loureiro, Dr. Randy Lightfoot, and Professor Earl Fratus. Faculty coaches who traveled with the NMUN 2024 DC team included Professor Sonia King and Dr. Douglas Rivero. Dr. Rivero is the MUN Director and recent author of a journal article titled Sustainability Development in the Caribbean: A comparative analysis of Cuba, Dominican Republic and Jamaica. It was published by Discover Sustainability.