Armed with facts, charisma and just a pinch of acting, UTAs Model NATO traveled to Washington, D.C., for the International Model NATO Conference from Feb. 15 to Sunday.

Members of the UTA organization served on different committees to cover several topics NATO currently faces. NATO is a partnership between the U.S. and nearly 30 other countries to form a military alliance.

German junior Matthew Estrada co-delegated a committee on emerging security, which concerns indirect threats like cyber warfare, he said.

Alisha Adams, critical language international studies in German senior, served as a Norway delegate on a committee dealing with tactical nuclear planning and won Superior Delegation. She described her role as the voice of reason.

Norway would say, Youre being aggressive, this is not safe. This can threaten the environment, she said. I was kind of like the hippie, I guess. The environmentally-friendly delegate.

Ricardo Ortiz, Model NATOs executive officer, said he enjoyed being the Russian delegate on the partnerships committee.

The amount of studying the group did before leaving varied between members.

Estrada, who won Independent Leadership with his fellow club member, said it was important to research their respective committees as much as possible.

Overall, I dont see this as necessarily an easy job, he said.

Among studying Norways positions on issues that NATO faces, studying other members stances were equally as important, he said.

But history senior Morse disagreed.

You see two sides of things, he said. You see the intense study and work needed for these kinds of things the knowledge, the information and the ability to sell ice to Eskimos.

Most members agreed that learning to play a role was a huge part of this conference.

In Adams committee, she could see how persuasion could be an overshadowing force.

If you were a well-spoken person and very charming, you could have other delegates ignore them and more in more of the direction you want to go, Adams said.

History senior Ortiz earned much attention after following a suggestion from Micah Morse, fellow Model NATO member, and the organizations faculty adviser, Lonny Harrison.

At one point during his committees discussions, Ortiz noted a real-life incident during NATO discussions in 1966. Taking off his shoe and slamming it on the table, Ortiz harkened back to Nikita Khrushchevs tenure as a Russian delegate.

For me, its all about being able to improvise, which is supported what facts you know, he said. I was Russia, so I was basically playing devils advocate for this conference. Im not going to lie, it was pretty fun.

This commitment to his role as the Russian delegate earned him a Superior Delegation award at the conference.

On top of individual awards and the participation award given to everyone, UTAs Model NATO won an overall Superior Delegation award, only beat by three other delegations.

Despite the awards, Estrada said the best thing about the conference is all the people hes met.

It helps build a repertoire of people you can look to for advice or for information or help, he said.

@oakford_jamil

news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

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Model NATO lands Superior Delegation award - UTA The Shorthorn