Student delegates from Howard Payne University attended the 61st Annual Session of the Model United Nations of the Far West conference, held in San Francisco in April. Many universities from around the world attended the conference, each representing a different country in order to simulate a U.N. meeting. HPU represented Poland and the Czech Republic.

Throughout the conference, students were given mock world situations and asked to come up with plausible ways to resolve the issues.

“This was my third year at the San Francisco conference and each year has widened my horizons through the contact with other schools,” said Andrea Morgan, a recent HPU graduate from Cleburne. “I think this is a very important experience for our college years.”

HPU took 12 students to the conference including Morgan; Kathryn Barrackman, a senior from Houston; Kathryn Burns, a senior from Seguin; Callie Ellis, a junior from Tennessee Colony; Tim Hardy, a sophomore from Corpus Christi; Megan Haverlah, a sophomore from Poth; Brittany Lunsford, a May graduate from Lewisville; Josh Muse, a senior from Waxahachie; Matt Peisker, a senior from Cedar Park; Scott Perkins, a May graduate from Newhall, Calif.; Nick Rayburn, a senior from Azle; and Liz Rogers, a sophomore from Grand Junction, Colo. The sponsors were Kalie Lowrie, then-director of media relations, and Landry Blackstock, instructor of developmental studies.

Poland, represented by HPU students, was chosen to speak at the opening session and won the Certificate of Diplomacy Award.

“The conference was a good experience,” said Callie Ellis. “I enjoyed representing HPU and was honored to have the privilege of speaking at the opening session.”

“Just going to California was incredible, but meeting people from different backgrounds and different parts of the world and the United States was a great part of the trip,” said Nick Rayburn. “It is one thing to read something out of a book, but it is another thing to actually experience it.”