As Cristian Gonzalez ‘16 sat amongst hundreds of other Model United Nation [MUN] members, silence quickly broke out into prideful cheering when he heard his respective country, Greece, receive the award of best delegate.

“This conference is the biggest we go to, [winning] was ridiculous,” Gonzalez said.

Chicago MUN conference [CIMUN], which took place Dec. 10-13, is MUN’s most competitive conference of the year. During the four-day international conference, students present their research to panels in six different committees. Through their research, students create policies for their countries. Students’ individual as well as team scores go towards their overall score. The students representing Greece placed individually which allowed them to have a higher overall score and receive first place.

“We won [this conference] my freshman year,” Danny Benson ‘16 said. “The past two years we have been struggling to win again, so winning was the coolest thing that could have happened.”

Students communicate with each other over the four days to present a consistent and accurate policy for their country.

“It takes a lot of coordination, work and individual dedication,” MUN advisor John Cronfel said.

After their win at the Chicago conference, the MUN students are preparing for the Lyons Township MUN conference [LYMUN] on Feb. 27.

“The logistics behind the conference are my main concern,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is one of few students in charge of preparation for LYMUN. Teachers, administration and about 50 students involved in MUN have prepared for LYMUN with 32 schools schedules to attend and about 700 delegates and 18 committees. Students not only have to prepare their materials for committees, but also help plan for the conference.

“The details that go into it are tremendous,” Cronfel said.

In addition to preparation from students, LTTV is working with MUN to present opening and closing ceremonies, in addition to video presentations.

Students involved in MUN learn to research, organize, write, speak, present and negotiate behind the scenes.

“If you have been in MUN for four years you start to develop each one of those skills at a very mature level that you will never lose,” Cronfel said. “I think, essentially, the goal of education is to make independent thinkers and this is one of those activities that does that incredibly well.”