This past Saturday, members of the Saint Peter’s Prep Model United Nations team, otherwise known as SPPMUN, traveled to Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township, New Jersey to compete in the 24th South Jersey Model United Nations conference, or SJMUN XXIV. With over three hundred participants present, Prep was able to take home one ‘Outstanding Delegate,’ one ‘Best Position Paper,’ and four ‘Best Delegate’ awards. “It was truly a breathtaking experience,” opined one attendant. “Absolutely out of this world.”

Prep’s strong showing at SJMUN, however, cannot wholly capture the hard work and dedication of the SPPMUN attendants. With over ten schools competing at SJMUN, winning such a high number of awards and distinctions was no easy task. “The preparation was not extremely hard, [but] it was just tedious,” stated another delegate. Delegates were given their assignments a month in advance of the conference. During this time, delegates read, researched, noted down, and cited dozens of documents and online articles in an effort to better understand the topic they were covering and their designated country’s position on it. With assistance from ever-helpful students, Nicolai Mendoza ‘24, Andrew Norris ‘24, and Felix Puig-Seppalainen ‘25, novices and experienced delegates alike were able to sharpen their debate and research skills.

After weeks of preparation and revisions, October 22 — the day of the conference — finally arrived. The SPPMUN delegates, some living over an hour away, had to be at Prep by 5:45 AM. At 6:10 AM, the delegates hopped on a school bus for Eastern Regional High School. After having to wait some time due to their early arrival, the Prep delegates were allowed into the school by the Secretaries-General of the conference to drop off bags and grab some breakfast. At 9:30 AM, after introductory speeches from the Secretaries-General and a special guest, a large gavel was struck: the conference officially began!

From that moment, Prep delegates sat down at their respective seats and the atmosphere in the conference very much seemed to change. Prep was positioned to do well. With powerful testimonies and arguments levied by Prep delegates, “Saint Peter’s Prep simply dominated the conference; there is no other way to look at it,” declared a Prep delegate. “I am extremely pleased by the performance of the team at SJMUN, winning a majority of the best delegates at the conference…” stated another. “[We] DECIMATED the competition…” declared a third, still learning the art of humility.

After hours of relentless debate and negotiations, the committees concluded their work at 3:00 PM and all delegates were asked to walk to the main conference room. There, the awards ceremony took place, with the Secretaries-General presenting six Prep delegates with esteemed awards. SPPMUN found itself winning 31% of all available distinctions. “It was a blowout—at this pace, we’re bound to match and even outperform last year’s record-setting SPPMUN team,” claimed another Prep delegate.

Mr. Mendoza, a member of the leadership team for SPPMUN, could not have been more proud of the Prep delegates’ performances at SJMUN, “Losing several key pieces last year, there were definitely some qualms we had about sustaining our high-caliber performance…however, hearing the Secretariat of SJMUN read off our names for every other award guaranteed us stability and even more ambition for the year ahead. To maintain our position within the New Jersey Model UN circuit and head into the season with unbridled energy is something to be grateful and ecstatic for.”

SPPMUN’s Brobdingnagian presence and domineering performance at SJMUN can be summed up by the jocund words of Ms. McElroy, SPPMUN’s faculty moderator, uttered before Prep’s departure of Eastern Regional, “Gentlemen, today you all made Prep proud!”