Written by Jordan Hanson
Last weekend, Roanoke College’s Model Arab League attended the South Eastern Regional Model Arab League (SERMAL) conference in Spartanburg, SC. SERMAL is very similar to the more familiar organization Model United Nations (MUN). However, while MUN has 193 member states, SERMAL focuses solely on the 22 member states that make up the League of Arab States. RC’s delegation represented the nation of Qatar at SERMAL this year.
Though it was only RC’s third year at the conference, the delegation won an award in every committee at the conference. Freshmen Ryan Denholm and Dan Nahor were awarded Superior Delegate (third place) as Heads of State. Freshmen Simon Gardehl and Bradley Sperl were awarded Distinguished Delegate (second place) in Economic Affairs. Freshman Emily Cranford and senior Christa Waterwiese were also awarded second in Joint Defense Council.
Sophomore Casey Wilson was awarded second in Special Council on Women and Children. Seniors Sasha Bronder and Paul Manville placed second in Social Affairs and Political Affairs, respectively. Junior Mia Petrucci and senior Tim Shay were awarded Outstanding Delegate (first place) in Environmental affairs, and sophomore Mary Rose Stark was also awarded first in Palestinian Affairs. As a whole, the delegation was awarded second place overall in the Distinguished Delegation category for their representation of Qatar at the conference.
“SERMAL was an absolute blast! I was really excited to be on the Special Council on Women and Children, thinking about human rights, healthcare, and education problems. It took me a little bit to get used to how things were run, but on the second day we all got down to business and debated and wrote draft resolutions for problems in the Middle East,” said Wilson. With aspirations to work in politics, she added, “It even helped me to see that making legislation is really what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
