Delegates from all over the country gathered at the College of William & Mary from Nov. 22 to 24 for a three-day Model United Nations conference known as the William and Mary High School Model United Nations conference (WMHSMUN).

WMHSMUN consisted of high school delegates from as schools as close as Chantilly and Langley High Schools, but as far away as Port Charlotte High School from Florida and Mira Costa High School from California. It was the first conference of the year for Jefferson’s Model United Nations club (TJMUN), which brought 100 delegates to the conference.

“My first WMHSMUN conference was amazing,” freshman Chris Cao said. “The whole trip was very organized and we had a lot of free time to hang out with our friends, while also being serious during committee sessions.”

TJMUN brought home the highest number of awards and the second highest number of Best Delegate awards, commonly referred to as “gavels.”

Gavels went to seniors Somya Shankar and Ani Surumpudi representing Algeria in the Arab League committee, seniors Prajeeth Koyada and Charith Ratnayaka representing the United Kingdom in the International Labor Organization, senior Connor Hennessey-Niland representing Liu Bocheng in the 1969 Sino-Soviet Border Conflict and sophomore Shohini Gupta representing Taiwan in the Non-Aligned Movement 2024 committee. TJMUN also brought home two Outstanding Delegation awards, six Honorable Mention awards and seven Verbal Commendations.

“I was completely shocked and overwhelmed because it was the first time I hadn’t been able to determine who would win the gavel before announcing it and it was my first gavel and my second national conference,” Gupta said. “It feels like all the stress and effort that came in preparing for this weekend totally paid off.”

TJMUN’s next conferences will be a local conference at Chantilly High School and another national conference, the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference, at the University of Pennsylvania.

“In a field comprised of many excellent schools, our preparation and training shone through as we were able to bring home more awards than any of our competitors,” junior Aidan Hennessey-Niland said. “Throughout the year, we will keep up our hard work and dedication, and try to achieve our goal of winning a delegation award at ILMUNC.”