The MUNAM Generation for 2014/15 presents itself
13 LMU students with many different fields of study, ranging from literary studies, economics, or political science up to law and medicine, with many different settings and backgrounds formed one team to represent
MUNAM e.V. at the Harvard WorldMUN 2015 in Seoul.
Celline Cole
Celline was born in 1989 and raised in Heidelberg. Growing up as a German-American in an international and multicultural community she became interested in international development and global issues early on. Especially during times like the beginning of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars she often found herself in a position of being faced with controversial ideologies and opinions between German and American viewpoints. This was one of the main reasons for her eagerness to question political standpoints and decisions and to comprehend the dynamics of international politics. During her last years of high school, Celline was a delegate at two Model United Nations conferences in Paris and Alkmaar where she gained first experiences and skills in diplomatic political decision making on a global level.After graduating from high school Celline spent three months at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) preparing for her following Bachelor studies in Psychology at the University of Heidelberg. After successful completion of her Bachelor studies Celline started Law School at the LMU Munich in October 2013. Beside her studies she is volunteering in a resocialization program for young delinquents by the Munich District Court. In her free time Celline enjoys travelling, diving, surfing and playing the piano. She speaks German, English, French and Indonesian.
Aron Farkas
Aron was born 1988 in Cologne and grew up in a multicultural environment where he was raised bilingually due to his Hungarian parents. Before graduation he tried to broaden his cultural horizon by participating in a Big Band playing saxophone and going abroad to the United States for half a year. While doing civilian service he explored that besides the spectacular outside world also the love to his home town – with its carnival and football – made a lasting impression on him. With a heavy heart but with great expectations he moved to Aachen in 2009 where he finished his Bachelor degree at RWTH University in the biological field. The awakened interest in medical biology and the understanding of interdisciplinary contexts resulted in the move to the science location Munich, where he is doing his Master degree in medical biology. In 2013 he spent a semester in Linköping, Sweden, where he focused on experimental and medical biology. In consequence of the great hospitality from the Swedish people he started to work for the international center at TUM sharing some of his own experiences and guiding incoming exchange students from all around the world to make their stay in a foreign country as easy as possible. Being part of the MUNAM delegation 2014/15 allows him to explore the world beyond cell culture flasks and test tubes and prepare him for current and future global topics.
Valentin Feneberg
Born and raised in southern Munich, Valentin finished his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at the Munich School of Philosophy in 2013 and is currently in his last semester of studying for a Bachelor’s in Politics and Sociology at the University of Munich. Since 2013, he has worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Social and Development Studies at the Munich School of Philosophy, where he is also a tutor for Social Philosophy and the Philosophy of Social Science. He has gained practical experience as a tutor for Rhetoric at the Department for Communication Science and Media Research at the University of Munich and as an instructor for future group leaders for a Christian youth organisation. In 2014, he was a visiting student in Political Theory at the University of Oxford. Valentin is grateful for the opportunity to pursue his interest in theoretical aspects of global issues and to use and improve his practical skills as a member of the MUN Delegation.
Christina Griem
Christina was born in Frankfurt in 1990 and grew up with six siblings in the Main-Taunus area. She successfully graduated from high school in 2009, being awarded for her excellent achievements in languages. She did not only pass the German A-levels, but also the French equivalent called Baccalauréat. She is fluent in various languages such as English, German, French and Spanish and started learning Arabic in 2013. In October 2010, she started studying secondary school teaching at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Her subjects are French, German, Spanish and German as a Second Language. For the fall semester 2012/2013, she took part in the Erasmus programm at Blaise-Pascal-University in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Christina reckons that the education of children is the foundation of every future society and the well-being worldwide. Aiming at this goal, she worked for the Mercator Stiftung, a charitable foundation that supports deprived people, where she taught German to young migrants. She also travelled to Tanzania to work as a teacher in a Primary School. This intense experience to live and work in a developing country awakened her to the persistent problems in our modern world and to the responsibility that we do all have concerning their improvement. For her, the WorldMUN 2015 in Seoul provides the ideal international stage to discuss some of the challenges she encountered with students from around the world while learning about other perspectives and opinions. Furthermore, she is looking forward to cooperating with students from other fields of studies preparing this unique project.
Lisa-Maria Hönig
Lisa was born in Bad Reichenhall in 1989 and grew up in a small village near the Austrian border. An avid reader, she decided to leave the Bavarian alps for a city with bigger libraries as soon as she graduated from high school. In 2008, she began her degree in English literature, Modern German literary studies and philosophy at LMU Munich. After her intermediate exam in 2010, she was nominated for a Max Weber scholarship and was accepted into the program in 2011. Over the course of her studies, her research focus has mostly been on postcolonial issues, epistemology and biopolitics. Spending a year at the University of Sussex as a visiting student in 2011/12 gave her the chance to further broaden her research field in an international context. She is currently planning to write her master‘s thesis on the colonial roots of contemporary conflicts in sub-saharan Africa and the role of literary production in processes of communal remembering and transitional justice. When she is not reading, Lisa is either cooking, trying to teach herself Portuguese and French, or working for „Das Prinzip der Sparsamsten Erklärung“, the online literature and essay magazine she co-edits. Lisa is excited to be able to patricipate in WorldMUN because it will give her the chance to leave the ivory tower of academia and learn more about the political application of her theoretical work.
Ismail Ismail
Ismail was raised in Cairo, Egypt to Egyptian parents. Born in 1995, he started attending the German School in Cairo (DEO) at the age of five, where he learned the German language and graduated in 2013 with the German Abitur as one of the top of his class. Ismail moved to Munich, Germany the same year in order to start his studies at the LMU Munich, majoring in Economics, a field that always interested him. Raised between the German-European and the Egyptian-middle eastern culture, Ismail grew up speaking three languages fluently including German, English and Arabic. He also participated in two exchange programs in Germany (2009 and 2011). During his time at school, Ismail enjoyed the trust of his fellow schoolmates, as he was elected class representative for six years in a row as well as student representative for two years. Besides that, he was a Model United Nations delegate and the president of the Security Council representing his school on five different occasions, as well as being a tutor for new delegates at his school, which was a reason for him to apply to the World MUN delegation, to share his experience and continue one of his passions. Being the goalkeeper and vice captain of his school team got him to play at various tournaments across the region. And after recently moving to Europe he is keen to explore the European culture, especially the eastern European one, which fascinates him a lot.
Anna Prisca Lohse
Anna was born in Bayreuth in 1992 and graduated from Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium Frankenthal (Pfalz) in 2010, where she was awarded for her outstanding achievements in English and French, as well as her involvement in the student newspaper. In October 2010, she started studying English, French, German as a Second Language and Educational Sciences for secondary school teaching. Since Anna is half Thai and half German, the urge to explore and experience different cultures has always played an important part in her life. Anna participated in various exchange programs to England, France and the U.S. during her school years. In 2011, she served as an intern at the city hall of Colombes, France. A year later, she returned to the Hexagon, where she spent six months teaching German to 12- to 18-year-old French students in Fontainebleau – a period that made her realize that intercultural competence and diplomacy are important not only in world politics, but also on an everyday basis in the classroom. Anna experiences interculturality every day during her work as a student assistant at the International Office of LMU and at the Institute for Romance Philology, where she works as a tutor for French-German translations. Anna participated in ‘Schule für alle’, a project where university students provide German lessons for children with migration background and she currently volunteers for the DAAD project ‘Europa macht Schule’.
Sandra Mekidiche
Sandra was born in 1992 in Munich and was raised in the city’s north. Other countries and cultures had always been one of her biggest interests, so she left Germany in summer of 2008 to spend a year abroad in Missouri, USA, where she lived with a hostfamily and attended High-School. She also took part in student exchanges to France and England. After her graduation in 2011, she started Med School at the LMU Munich. Back in school she worked as a tutor for younger students to improve their integration in the school community and engaged in helping elementary school students with migration background and non-German first language with reading and speaking at the “AWO Kindertagesstätte Regenbogenland Dachau-Ost”. Since 2013 she is part of the student association “Migramed”, an initiative with the goal to improve the medical situation of asylum seekers in Munich. She also attended lectures concerning asylum-law, to gain a deeper understanding for asylum politics. Sandra plans to work for “Doctors without borders” in the future, because she wants to use her education in favor of people without constant access to health care. By being part of the Harvard World MUN delegation of 2015, she hopes to gain a better understanding of international politics and is looking forward to share this experience with students from all over the world.
Mark Opeskin
Mark was born in 1993 and raised in Novovoronezh, Russian Federation, before moving to Germany in 2004. During his time at the German Gymnasium Mark participated in exchange programmes with Oxford and Paris, which helped him enhance his language proficiency in English and French and also increase his understanding of foreign cultures. Basic consulting skills were gained in a project called “business at school” which is organised by the Boston Consulting Group. During his studies at school Mark developed a big interest in international politics and economic development. His Russian roots helped him understand political actions in Western and Eastern Europe. Financial crisis of 2008 had a huge impact on global economy but the crisis itself was anticipated differently in Germany and Russia. This fact brought Mark to the studies of economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, which he finds very interesting and fascinating. Besides university, Mark is a working student at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich. This allows him to gain interesting insights into the current topics of research. In his spare time he swims for the Ottobrunn swimming club, plays guitar and travels around the globe. Mark is looking forward to participating in the WorldMUN project and working together with students who are interested in global politics and who want to make the world a better place.
Tobias P.
Tobias` interest in international politics and diplomacy developed already through his school time. After graduation he moved to Athens for a European Voluntary Service in a day-care- center for people with mental disabilities. The experiences during the peak of economic crisis and political protests in Greece gave him a new view on the global economy and international politics. Back in Germany, he started to study Pedagogy/Educational Science and Sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University. In Munich he is living in an integrative living community together with flatmates with mental disabilities. Furthermore he supports the research of SOS- Children´s Villages Germany as a student assistant in its Socio-Pedagogical Institute. In 2014 he combined his interests in education and international politics through an internship at the Global Campaign for Education (Germany), where he assisted in the organization of the Global Action Weeks for inclusive education. In addition he advanced his competences in campaign management at the Campaign Bootcamp Germany and during the following mentoring program. Tobias is looking very forward to slipping into the cultural and political perspective of a country and getting to know people from all over the world while debating and having an inspiring time.
Alexander Reisach
Alexander was born 1995 in Munich and grew up in the Munich suburban area. In his time at Humboldt-Gymnasium Vaterstetten he was cofunder of the school’s Media Design group, active in the student council and soon began to take Japanese classes in addition to the schools language courses. He likes meeting with people from different backgrounds as well as the adventure of experiencing a new culture. Therefore he is highly interested in traveling in general and has taken part in exchange programs with Japan and China. Alexander is very active in traditional Taekwondo and is bronce medal winner of the 2014 German championships. Starting all by himself in 2012 he is now very much engaged in the extreme sport Martial Arts Tricking and takes part in various events and competitions in Germany. After completing his A-levels in 2013 he started studying Business Administration at the LMU Munich. In 2015 he is going to spend a year abroad at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. As a fellow of the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation and the Max Weber-Program Alexander has taken part in discussions, seminars and study trips on political and social issues. To him international politics are the place where all ties from social, environmental and economical challenges come together and form a complex whole. Alexander sees being part of the Delegation as a great chance to get a first hand insight into how opinion becomes action among the world’s political leaders as well as a unique opportunity of meeting with politically interested students from all over the world.
Fabio Schmidt-Fischbach
Fabio was born in 1995 in Augsburg, where he spent his childhood and attended school. He graduated in 2013 from Maria-Theresia Gymnasium on top of his class and then decided to study Economics at the University of Munich. This decision was made due to his great interest for politics in general and development policy in particular. The question why countries are wealthier than others and whether it is possible to overcome this inequality is the underlying motivation for his studies. During his time at school he enjoyed being a tutor, which is why he decided to become part of the Ophase, a program which supports new incoming students in theirs first weeks of university. He is looking forward to getting to know many interesting people. This was also a reason for him to apply for the World MUN delegation of the LMU. Additionally, he enjoys learning about different cultures and considers the World MUN to be a great chance for him to exchange his views on issues of international politics with people from all over the world. In his spare time Fabio enjoys reading, sports and especially traveling. He is excited about visiting Asia again, as he has already been there once and seeks to explore more of the continent. Since the summer term of 2014 he is also a fellow of the German National Academic Foundation, which amongst others provided him the opportunity to attend inspiring seminars about politics.
Julia Schmidt
Julia was born 1993 in Starnberg and grew up in a little village close to the monastery Andechs. While attending the Gymnasium Tutzing, she already developed a strong interest in languages and played the violin in the school ́s orchestra. After her graduation in 2011, she received a scholarship in the Max-Weber-Programme sponsored by the Bavarian government. In October 2011 she began studying communications sciences and economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University. Next to her studies she deepens her skills in communication by working as assistant for the professorship “Public Relations” and writing for the students’ newspaper “Standards but poor”. In her fifth semester, she spent a year in south-east Asia. While studying for one semester abroad in Bangkok, she had the possibility to explore both Asia as a continent and Thailand as a nation. She experienced how a developed and allegedly democratic country can become political instable. The second half of the year, she interned in the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. In Singapore, she got to know a society that is equal to western standards, that is progressing faster than most of the countries in the world whilst the surrounding countries suffer from poverty. Those contradictory societies were thought-provoking and motivated her to think about how to improve the situation especially for children, and she started to plan a social business to help children in need in Cambodia. For her, the WorldMUN offers an important step for meeting those who bother about finding solutions, for those who are aware and pay attention to the political developments in our world.
Executive Team 2014/15
The executive team 2015 was made up of alumni from WorldMUN 2013 and NMUN 2014. The tasks of the executive team divide into three responsibilities: seminar, fundraising, pr and online presence. Stated below are the contact persons for the different responsibilities.
Seminar:
Katalina P. & Emilio E.
Fundraising:
Robert D.
PR and online presence:
Anna K. & Johanna K.