The long anticipated VMUN finally drew a close on February 16th, after a weekend of intense debating and delegate bonding. Delegates from not just the Lower Main Land and Great Metro Vancouver, but also the states of Washington and California participated in this annual event. VMUN had its largest attendance this year of 1200+ delegates with a wait list of 300 who did not get admitted.

This year’s VMUN was a showcase of Saint’s talent from the delegation to the leadership team. Seven out of the total thirteen Secretariats were Saints. Almost twenty of the general staffs were also Saints. In addition, the Saints’ delegation was also arguably of the largest presence. Fellow Saints displayed diligence and professionalism through out the weekend. Notably, the Saints who dominated their respective committees and received awards for their dedication and adroit diplomatic abilities are Andrew Tsai, Chris Pang, William Guo, Andrew Campbell, Carl Xi and Andrew Wei.

On Friday, delegates arrived early in the morning to start the conference. After the routine procedure of registration, delegates were directed to a large meeting hall for the opening ceremony. The ceremony consisted of almost all staffs, delegates, secretariats. After the secretariats had the regular welcoming speech, Secretary General Parker Nann introduced the Keynote speaker, Mr. Doc Hendley. Hendley had not the recognition and reputation of last year’s speaker, Roméo Dallaire.  However, through his speech of genuine sentiment regarding his work and passion, Hendley received attention and reverence from all of the audience, generating laughter from time to time. Delegates also had the opportunity to get close up for the Q&A session with Doug after the ceremony closed.

The rest of the day was followed by a lengthy and intense committee session where the diplomacy and debates took place. At night, delegates rushed to the second floor for the highly advertised and anticipated delegate social, the RoMuntic. Usually the delegate social are scheduled on the Saturday night; however with this year’s schedule coincided with the Valentine’s Day, the organizational team deliberately moved the event to Friday evening, a further commitment to the friendship building principle of MUN.Saturday was highlighted by yet another several sessions of thrilling debates and occasional note passing with personal meanings. The day ended early for delegates to prepare for arguably most exciting part of the conference -the midnight crisis. During the midnight crisis, delegates needed to overcome the worldly urgency on hand but also the physical fatigue. Some delegates definitely came prepared, bringing pillows to the session.

Sunday was marked by the last rounds of debate in committee session and a closing ceremony with announcement of awards. Without out exceptions did all delegates wished the conference had not ended so soon. Delegates of DISEC  from  Sentinel, Ifan Yang, echoed that “the VMUN experience was as exceptional as it was last year, if not more.”

The VMUN concluded; the experiences gained and friendship made will indisputably benefit delegates for longer than a mere weekend. Thanks to the Saints and other organizational team personnel from other schools and other individuals who contributed to this VMUN.

Looking forward, Kelvin Zhu and Spencer Louie will lead VMUN 2015. Whether they will emulate and continue the established greatness of VMUN is not a question. Let’s look forward to another installation of the franchise!