Model UN Program wins Distinguished Delegation Award at National Conference 

Bellevue College’s Model United Nations program was recently awarded a Distinguished Delegation Award at the 2025 National Model United Nations conference. 

Representing Norway, 18 students and two advisors from the program — which includes an academic class, as well as an extracurricular club — traveled to New York this spring. They met with thousands of fellow student delegates from around the world to simulate UN committee proceedings while representing a country other than their own. During the conference, student delegates wrote position papers, drafted resolutions, negotiated with supporters and adversaries, and navigated UN rules of procedures in the name of international cooperation to resolve real international problems. 

The Distinguished Delegation Award is just one tier below the top award handed out at the conference, as well as one step above the Honorable Mention award the program received at a conference in November 2024 in Washington, D.C. 

“I got the message first because I was a head delegate,” club president Aizada Gapyrova said about receiving the award. “I opened the email, I wasn’t really expecting anything. So when I first saw it, I was shocked. I was so happy at the same time, shocked and happy. I didn’t believe it.” 

Gapyrova, who is finishing up her third year at Bellevue College and second year in the Model UN program, said she will carry that moment with her forever. As the group’s leader, she felt responsible for the whole team, spending many hours coming up with workshop plans and training structures so everyone would be ready for the conference, especially since many students were first timers. 

“I wanted to make sure that everyone was ready and knew what was going to happen. Because when you’re in a room with 200 other people, you can get lost very easily,” she said. “When you know the structure, what’s going to happen after what, and you know your research, you have done your research well, then it’s going to give you confidence. You’re going to feel better about yourself, and be better prepared to give speeches and write resolutions.” 

Both program co-advisors Tim Jones and Christina Sciabarra, who both teach political science at Bellevue College, praised the program’s student leaders, including Gapyrova, for their preparation leading up to the conference. 

Kindness Will Get You Far 

In past years, the countries Bellevue College’s delegation has represented at the conference include New Zealand, Colombia, Guatemala, Malaysia and Cuba. 

With Bellevue College’s delegation representing Norway, the students also had the opportunity to meet with the permanent representative to the UN from Norway, who does diplomacy work in real life. The diplomat emphasized how women are really prioritized in Norway in a way that they aren’t in a lot of places around the world, which Jones said was really powerful, adding that no matter what country they represent at the conference, they will always learn something. 

Gapyrova also appreciated meeting the Norwegian diplomat. She said the other woman was very welcoming and kind to them, giving them advice on how to best represent Norway at the conference — not only in terms of policy, but also on how to behave and the country’s diplomacy style. The key, Gapyrova said, is kindness. 

“Even if you are from a country that has some kind of hostile style of diplomacy, you still have to be kind as a person, because at the end of the day, you’re dealing with people, not countries, and you have to be in good relationships with them if you want to achieve good results,” Gapyrova said. 

Developing Leadership Skills 

During her time in Model UN, in addition to showing her how real-world politics work, Gapyrova said being in the program has helped her grow as a person. 

Thinking back to her first-ever Model UN conference in Seattle in 2023, Gapyrova was on the security council, representing the United Kingdom. And because the United Kingdom holds veto power, she had to act accordingly. But as a naturally shy person, it was difficult for her to step out of her comfort zone to do this. Other more experienced delegates at the time helped Gapyrova, telling her to seize her power — she didn’t have to ask for permission. 

“Because whenever you come into a room full of strangers, they judge you by how you act, how you appear, how you hold yourself,” she said. “And it’s very important to give that first impression, because if you’re timid, if you look small, I mean metaphorically, and you don’t know how to act, and you don’t know where to put your hands, people won’t want to hear what you’re going to say.”  

Being in Model UN has taught Gapyrova how to present herself and to communicate with others. She also learned that it’s not as important to try and win something as it is to really find solutions that work for everyone, a skill that can transfer to any workplace, negotiation, and other real-life scenarios. 

“You have to start with your common ground, not what makes you different. And only then can you bring solutions that matter and that will impact the world for positive change,” she said. 

Sciabarra added that Model UN also gives students the opportunity to explore careers they might be interested in and let them know if this is really the right path for them. 

“But even more so, it gives students the opportunity to really work on a skill set, like researching, writing, public speaking, and then actually apply it,” she said. “And students come out of these experiences with so much increased confidence. They’re confident that they can give a talk in front of a class. They’re confident that they can take on research projects. They’re confident that they can apply for internships or research opportunities.”