Nearly 300 high school student-delegates converged at the University of Montana in November for the 60th annual Model United Nations Conference, seeking resolutions to global issues. 

Reaching a consensus at the two-day United Nations simulation, students, who represent member states belonging to the 80-year-old international organization, must negotiate differing viewpoints with diplomacy through effective debates, speeches, caucuses and drafted resolutions. The conference encourages critical thinking and respectful dialogue, according to the university.   

Among the 14 Montana and Idaho high schools represented were Flathead, Glacier and Columbia Falls high schools. Private schools Heritage Academy and Heritage Learning in Kalispell also participated. 

During the November Model UN conference, students served on one of the following: General Assembly First Committee (disarmament and international security), General Assembly Third Committee (social, humanitarian and cultural issues), Security Council, Environment Assembly, Economic and Social Council, or the International Atomic Energy Agency.  

Glacier's Joshua Lee made the cut to the top five seniors competing at the conference and will be offered a $1,000 scholarship to attend the University of Montana. Representing India on the International Atomic Energy Agency, Lee was also named a distinguished delegate in the top 10%. 

Students representing the United States and Cuba from Heritage Academy and Flathead, respectively, were named distinguished country delegations (top 10%). 

Top honors also went to Flathead's Logan Yuasa-Green and Jake Milone, whose outstanding position papers ranked in the top 1% to 2% of participants. Yuasa-Green represented Israel on the Economic and Social Council while Milone represented China on the Security Council. 

“This year was kind of special as it was my first time on the Security Council, the most powerful United Nations council,” said Milone, who marked his fourth conference this year. 

For his efforts on the Security Council, he was recognized as a distinguished delegate in the top 10% of participants.  

To be a successful delegate, students study the country they represent — its geography and culture, political system, leadership, political issues, economic and social conditions, foreign affairs and allies — which all factor into how students craft and vote on resolutions. 

This is the challenge of Model UN as students step into the role of international delegates, removing themselves from the viewpoints of their home country. Milone gave an example of voting on a resolution regarding the humanitarian crisis in Syria with reignited conflict and ongoing instability a year after the ousting of the country’s former authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad. 

The resolution called for stabilizing Syria through intervention, he recalled. 

“And China is anti-intervention,” he said, however, “The country wouldn’t necessarily be against humanitarian aid.” 

“With something they don’t agree with, and can’t support, but don't want it [the resolution] to fail; they will abstain from voting,” he explained.  

Milone said he arrived at his conclusions based on research from the United Nations archives, finding speeches by Chinese ambassadors. As an extemporaneous speaker in speech and debate, he said he enjoyed digging into international relations. 

“I’m interested in international relations and the dynamics between countries. Model UN is a cool way to get immersed in that — the bigger scale of learning how diplomacy works when there’s a lot of tension. Talking is the first step in de-escalation,” Milone said. 

Students also had the opportunity to hear from keynote speakers Jason Bellini, an award-winning journalist who has worked for the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Scripps News, and Channing Hartelius, a University of Montana alumnus, attorney and businessman from Great Falls, who served as secretary-general for the Model United Nations conference in the 1960s. 

Following is a list of award recipients, the schools they are from and the countries they represent (when applicable): 

SCHOOL AWARDS

— Distinguished schools (Top 20%)  

Small delegations: Glacier High School, adviser Beau Wright 

— Honorable Schools (Top 30%) 

Large delegations: Flathead High School, adviser Scott O’Donnell 

COUNTRY AWARDS

— Distinguished country delegations (top 10%)

United States, Heritage Academy 

Cuba, Flathead High School 

— Honorable Country Delegations (top 20%) 

Guatemala, Glacier High School 

DELEGATE AWARDS

General Assembly First Committee  

— Distinguished Delegates (top 10%)

Cheyann Kestalyn, Flathead, China 

Miles Flake, Flathead, China,  

— Honorable Delegates (top 20%) 

Colton Crandall, Flathead, Israel

General Assembly Third Committee 

— Distinguished Delegates (top 10%)  

Keegan West, Flathead, Israel

— Honorable Delegates (top 20%) 

Padmaja Vatti, Flathead, Fiji 

Dawson Gilbert, Heritage Academy, Iran,  

United Nations Environment Assembly  

— Honorable Delegates (top 20%) 

Teddy Cotton, Heritage Academy, United States,  

Economic and Social Council 

— Distinguished Delegates (top 10%) 

Grace Bell, Heritage Academy, United States 

Elle Sauer, Flathead, China 

— Honorable Delegates (top 20%) 

Hailey Fiala, Glacier, Guatemala 

Logan Yuasa-Green, Flathead, Israel 

International Atomic Energy Agency 

— Distinguished Delegates (top 10%) 

Joshua Lee, Glacier, India 

B. Poitra, Flathead, China 

— Honorable Delegates (top 20%) 

Fenton Liebe-Cohen, Flathead, Cuba 

Security Council  

— Distinguished Delegate (top 10%) 

Jake Milone, Flathead, China  

Position Paper Awards 

— Outstanding Position Papers (top 1 to 2%)  

Logan Yuasa-Green, Flathead, Israel 

Jake Milone, Flathead, China  

— Distinguished Position Papers (top 10%) 

Cheyann Kesteleyn, Flathead, Cuba,  

Elle Sauer, Flathead, China 

Reece Brotherton, Heritage Academy, United States  

Willow Rinehart, Heritage Academy, United States 

Joshua Lee, Glacier, India,

— Honorable Position Papers (top 20%) 

Caroline Owens, Heritage Academy, El Salvador 

Chloe Kinsella, Columbia Falls, Russia 

Z. Belt, Glacier, Guatemala 

Hadden Lavilla, Flathead, China  

Natalie Young, Flathead, Norway  

Lucas Spann, Heritage Academy, Hungary 

Top five seniors (scholarship winners): Joshua Lee, Glacier. 

Top 30 seniors (reserve scholarships): B. Poitra, Cheyann Kestalyn, Jake Milone and Natalie Young, all from Flathead; Sage Petioni of Columbia Falls, Teddy Cotton of Heritage Academy and Brynn Mason of Heritage Learning.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or [email protected].