Secretariat

Amelia Nick

Secretary General

Hello! My name's Amelia Nick and I'm a senior at Burr and Burton Academy and I am your Secretary General for this conference. Besides enjoying Model UN, I've been an active participant in the international program at our school. I have many friends who are exchange students, hosted exchange students and have been an exchange student myself. During my junior year, I spent a semester in Cuenca, a city in the south of Ecuador.

Currently I am working towards my future goals. This past fall I had an internship with a wedding planner and I'm now going to study event planning in college. I am also hoping to continue participating in Model UN at the college level next year. I have attended two Model UN conferences, BosMUN at Boston University and PMUNC at Princeton University since joining Burr and Burton's Model UN team, and have won awards at both. I look forward to working with you to create an enjoyable BBAMUN opportunity.

Tobias Lepecki

Crisis Director

Hello Delegates,

My name is Tobias Lepecki, and I am a sophomore at BBA as well as your Crisis Director. My accomplishments include that I once lost 5 games of rock, paper, scissors in a row against the Under-Secretary General for Specialized and Crisis. I also enjoys making films, reciting poetry, and being an all around flannel-clad hipster. In my free time I like to rap battle my cat, Moonwort, and usually lose. On an entirely unrelated note one of my favorite pastimes is Model UN. This passion for MUN is fueled mainly by a passion for debate and social studies. It is also fueled by my ego after having won Best Delegate in the United Nations Security Council at the fifteenth Boston Model United Nations Conference. All self-laudatory writing aside, I do very much look forward to being the man behind the curtain for our first conference at BBA. While you may rarely see me it is my utmost pleasure to be sadistically be manipulating your committee in the shadows. No one is safe and my eyes are everywhere. Best of luck delegates!

Yours, with the most diabolical intent,

Tobias Lepecki, Crisis Director

Chris Kornaros

GA and ECOSOC Director

My name is Chris Kornaros and I’m a senior at Burr and Burton Academy. This is my first year participating in Model United Nations and most recently I received the award for being an Outstanding Delegate at the BOSMUN XV invitational. Model UN has become one of my new passions and I’m excited to be working to help make BBAMUN a tradition to help grow this competitive and collaborative activity in the state of Vermont. In addition to MUN, I’m also very involved in other ways at my school. I play varsity football, hockey, and lacrosse— I’m a state champion in football, and a two time champion in lacrosse— I’m also a student ambassador and a member of the student council. Next year I plan on attending Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and studying Marketing, but eventually going to Law School as well. I look forward to developing the passion for Model UN in others through this conference.

Kendra LaRoche

Faculty Advisor

As the Model United Nations advisor for the past six years, I have watched our program grow as we learned how to research, write, use parliamentary procedure, and, above all, debate, like a delegate. After our recent win of best large delegation at BOSMUN, and invitation to join the All-American Model UN team, with opportunities to represent the United States in India and Beijing this summer, I knew we were ready to host our first Model United Nations conference.

When I am not coaching the Model UN team, I am also a social studies teacher at Burr and Burton Academy. My particular interest is addressing how schools support students in poverty and in lowering the achievement gap in education. In 2011 I was awarded a Rowland Fellowship to study this issue. During my fellowship sabbatical, I developed a plan for BBA to work to close the achievement gap, which was adopted in 2012. I continue to work on issues of poverty and education through both the Rowland Foundation and other high schools around Vermont.

On a personal note, I am a mother of two children, ages 6 and 8 and am active in my small community of Middletown Springs. In the past I have been an MMA fighter and basketball player, but more recently I have learned golf and taken to reading some of my favorite books from high school. (I am currently reading Ender’s Game for possibly the 10th time. My copy is held together with duct tape.)

I look forward to meeting other faculty advisors and discuss how to perpetuate Model UN teams in Vermont. I also love the energy at MUN conferences and look forward to bringing that energy to BBA.

Natalie Johnson

Head of PR and Communications

Dear delegates,

My name is Natalie Johnson. This will be my first time as the head of PR and communications as well as my first year having participated in any form of Model United Nations. I have taken part in two conferences as a delegate at PMUNC and BOSMUN. While I am currently applying for colleges, I will be taking a year abroad in Brazil. I am extremely interested in traveling as much as I can and learning new languages. I also enjoy writing in my free time. I am an editor of the Burr and Burton literary magazine, Between Ranges. I play varsity basketball in additon to the occasional badminton tournament in my backyard.

If this is your first time at a Model UN conference, just speak and know that everyone else is probably just as nervous. I know I was. Make sure to take notes and establish strong diplomatic ties with your fellow delegates.This is supposed to be fun. I hope you all have a great time at BBAMUN and make the most of it. Let's make some resolutions!