Claremont McKenna College’s Model United Nations (CMCMUN) team is now a seven-time Harvard World Model United Nations (WorldMUN) champion after winning Best Small Group Delegation at this year’s conference in Peru over Spring Break.
WorldMUN, widely considered the “Olympics of collegiate Model UN,” hosts more than 2,000 students from over 110 countries in a different country each year. Last month, student delegates traveled to Lima, Peru, to participate in 15 hours of committee meetings over the five-day conference from Thursday, March 15, to Sunday, March 19.
Among the team’s eight attendees, seven participants received awards — four of whom received “Best Delegate” in their respective committees.
The group attends WorldMUN and Harvard’s National Model United Nations (HNMUN) conference every year. CMCMUN took home a first-place title at HNMUN last year and was ranked the 4th best North American MUN team in the 2024-25 school year by Best Delegate, a Model UN-centered education company.
Samuel Johnson-Saeger CM ’26, one of the trip’s organizers, attributed the team’s continuous success to its unconventional structure as an entirely student-led organization. He said this attracts enthusiastic, qualified and dedicated students.
“CMC’s team is unique in that we all dedicate time to the activity solely through the club and voluntary participation–there’s no academic credit, class, or substantive faculty support involved,” Saeger wrote in an email to TSL. “I think that means that the team members we draw, especially for WorldMUN, are both incredibly passionate about and talented at the activity.”
Other team members said the team’s camaraderie outside of the professional Model UN environment also played a monumental role in their win.
“We’re all friends first, and we’re all teammates with each other first, like we genuinely want to go to the conference, not just to compete, but also to spend time with each other,” Zubin Khera CM ’27, another organizer of the trip, said.
Khera said that having a fun, welcoming team culture motivates the group to continue competing for each other.
“I think that’s what separates the CMC, one team, from other teams,” Khera said. “Other teams operate as delegations, but we operate as a team of friends.”
At the conference, teams are tested on conflict negotiation, crisis management and public speaking skills. The awards are determined by the groups’ average individual scores— calculated by dividing the sum of each delegate’s score by the number of participants in a team.
Lily Ye CM ’29 and her partner Saeger gaveled — MUN speak for winning “Best Delegate” in a committee — at this year’s conference. Ye said she felt that other teams at the conference did not prioritize group bonding or relationships, and she appreciated CMCMUN’s effort to build community.
“I think that’s something that CMC does really well, [which] is making sure that [you] know each other, that you’re bonding, and that your friends outside of MUN,” Ye said.
Ye said this familiarity improved communication between her and Saeger, as she felt more comfortable sharing her opinion with senior delegates despite being an underclassman.
WorldMUN is expected to announce the location of its next conference late Spring, and members assured CMCMUN will be in attendance to chase their eighth championship title.
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