Cheshire Academy earned two awards at the North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN), the western hemisphere’s preeminent Model UN conference. 

Eight students and their chaperones traveled to Washington D.C. and represented real individuals, cities, and countries on various committees, addressing global issues. 

Aditya Sinha ’22 received the Book Award for research and Honorable Mention for public speaking in his committee, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. Representing Barcelona, Spain, Sinha was tasked with explaining the city’s values on climate change and demonstrate how his city and others could become more climate conscious. For Sinha, who is president of CA’s Eco-Leaders club, it was easy to have conversations about various facets of climate change that must be addressed among his group of approximately 60 other high school students. 

Other students from CA and their assigned committees were: 

• Layla Bowen ’23 (Special Political & Decolonization Committee)
• Elijah Beaudwin ’24 (Special Political & Decolonization Committee)
• Payton Einhorn ’24 (United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, 2022)
• Feyza Horuz ’24 (World Health Organization)
• Sahana Long ’22 (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 2022)
• Jack Silano ’24 (British House of Commons, 1956)
• Liza Tkachenko ’22 (United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, 2022)

Approximately 2,500 participants from the United States and world attended this year’s conference, representing 175 delegations. 

For Sinha, the Model UN was a tremendous learning experience. Not only was this the first time he has written a position paper, but he also learned through the support of Georgetown University students moderating the conference how to better present his points and gain support from his peers. Over the course of the conference, Sinha significantly improved upon his public speaking, which the moderators recognized. “Day by day, I was making sure I was working on that,” reflected Sinha. 

As recipient of the Book Award, Sinha received the best-selling book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” by Bill Gates. 

While in D.C., students toured the Embassy of Latvia and shared a dinner with alumni, including Board of Trustees member Angelina Casanova ’00, Avery Rose Royster ’12, Oly Lyubimov ’17, and Tanem Zaman ’18.