Stephanie Armbruster
As child of an American mother and German father, Stephanie was born in Altötting, a small town famous for religious pilgrimage and now lives in Munich to study statistics and biology. After being a very proactive student in high school and graduating as valedictorian, she took a Gap Year to explore her various, widespread interests and settle on a field of study. During this year she visited the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg for the Modulstudien Naturale, volunteered in the seal center Friedrichskoog, did an internship at Novartis, traveled around China and finally, fell in love with MUN.
“[…T]he United Nations is working for you. But it can do little without you. After all, it belongs to you – you, the peoples of the world. And, therefore, it can work much better with your help and your ideas.”
According to these wise words spoken by Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations, Stephanie has fully indulged in the experience of MUN conferences. After starting her MUN career at the BayernMUN conference in Nuremberg, she participated at GhentMUN 2018 and even had the distinct honour of chairing the UN Women session at GhentMUN 2019. Stephanie strongly believes in the grave importance of multilateralism, having the world sit at one table and using the UN as vital platform for political debate and diplomatic discussion. At MUN conferences Stephanie does not only enjoy the academic challenge of diplomatic discussions, debating and representing a country to one’s best ability but also the social aspect of getting to know so many different people with various inspiring backgrounds and making friends from all around the world. Stephanie very strongly hopes to contribute to the MUNAM delegation of 2019/2020 with her prior experience, her passion for MUN and her curiosity to explore new topics.
Next to being highly interested in International politics and MUNs, Stephanie currently works as programmer for a young Startup in Munich, tutors voluntarily and studies Chinese in her free time.
Laura-Marie Baumgartner
Laura was born in Munich and raised bilingual due to her Croatian mother. Her early experiences at LMU by visiting university courses in 11th grade helped her to decide for a field of study. Since October 2018, she is studying law. She discovered her passion for international politics very early and is eager to engage in these realms ever since.
She first came in touch with the work of the United Nations when she wrote her term paper about the role of the UN in the Yugoslavian war. Engaging in different projects alongside has always been important to Laura. Participating at the International Moot Court in The Hague was her first international conference and she knew that she would not want it to be her last one. IsarMUN 2018 followed quickly and she really enjoyed the sessions and the international atmosphere. Being a part of this year’s German Youth Parliament in Berlin gave her the perfect insight in domestic politics, but also proved that she is more passionate about foreign affairs. Her personal highlight was visiting the UN Office at Geneva in order to attend the 81st Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Witnessing diplomatic negotiations helping to solve global issues and being able to talk to the diplomats about their work was very inspiring to her.
Apart from her interest and passion for the international world she loves sports and acquired the black belt in Taekwondo. By now, Laura is fluent in five languages and can barely get enough of getting in touch with people from other cultures and their languages which is what she loves about participating at international conferences. It is a pleasure for her to be a part of this year’s MUNAM delegation project, because she really likes the idea of working together with or learning from other students who are like-minded.
Dijon Ismaili
As the son of Ex-Yugoslavian immigrants from Kosovo, with both the news from and Germany and Kosovo being shown on TV, Dijon lived his whole life as a cultural hybrid, feeling the need to be as politically informed as possible since he is connected to one of the poorest and one of the richest countries in Europe. But nevertheless he sees himself primarily as a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the earth.
He considers it a great privilege to be born and raised in the suburbs of Munich in 1999 and getting to graduate High School in 2018 in which he already tried to turn every social studies class into a debate round. And not only in school, but also online and at parties he enjoys discussing politics, no matter if foreign or local.
“Politics”, Dijon says “is what structures the world we live in, the wages we earn, the school we send our children to, and nowadays even the quality of the air we breathe. Not participating in it takes power and sovereignty from the people, which I consider an extremely critical and, unfortunately, also current threat.”
This UN Model is a first for Dijon and he is very proud to represent MUNAM e.V. in 2019/2020.
Annika Kaiser
Being a real “Münchner Kindl“, Annika first studied at LMU history and political science as a double major. Already during her school years, she was most interested in far-east Asian politics and history as well as the middle east conflict after reading books such as “Haddsch” and “Exodus” by Leon Uris. Consequently, she studied abroad in South Korea having the time of her life with Cheese Ddukbokki and the candle protest experiencing raw democratic processes in South Korea. With the delegation of the LMU Language Center she also studied at Tokyo University. First, MUN experiences were collected during her studies at the ‘Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft’ of LMU.
Her work experience at Bosch sparked her interest for new technologies which finally led her to commit sacrilege to change from LMU to TU for her master seminar “Politics & Technology”. As a jack of all trades, she also started her business administration studies at LMU and tried to learn several other foreign languages like Japanese, Korean, Chinese, French, and Hebrew. Her achievements so far are that she can order coffee in all those languages.
Georgios Kantzis
Georgios (George) was born in Athens, Greece and after graduating from the German School of Athens, he moved to Munich to pursue a bachelor’s degree in economics at Ludwig Maximilian University. He had his first encounter with the world of Model United Nations at a young age, as he was also a member of the MUN community of his school. Since then, MUN has been among his keen interests and it has stimulated his inquisitiveness regarding international political and financial affairs. Owing to the various conferences that he attended during high school, he has come to the conclusion that MUN is an advantageous activity which can contribute to the shaping of one’s critical thinking and one’s better understanding of the world.
Apart from his conspicuous enthusiasm for MUN, George also enjoys playing tennis and swimming, as he abides by the ancient saying “mens sana in corpore sano”. Additionally, he is particularly passionate about meeting new people from different countries and other cultures; a characteristic which enabled him to attend the Oxford Royale Academy for two consecutive summer breaks. There, he had the opportunity to engage in political and economic courses, as well as in leadership and team-building workshops.
Through his participation in the MUNAM Delegation Project 2019/2020, he aims to further enhance his communication and rhetorical skills and to collaborate with his fellow delegates in order to find efficient solutions for the complex issues that torment today’s world.
Robert Knigge
Born and raised in Bremen, Germany, in a German-Iranian household Robert became acquainted with international affairs from a young age, experiencing debates about cultural as well as political differences between people of different nationalities in his everyday life at home as well as in school.
While attending grammar school, he spent a year abroad in England to improve his English while getting to know the country. This was followed up by a stay in Chile last year where he travelled freely across the country while getting to know people from all around the world in general and from Chile in particular.
After an internship for a consulting firm in Frankfurt in 2017, he developed an interest in economics which materialized in him studying economics at LMU.
In his free time, he likes to play the piano, to improve his Spanish skills and to read as much as time permits him. He is passionate about music, politics, economics, philosophy and anything between.
Niklas Kronewiter
Born near Munich as the son of two journalists, Niklas became aware of politics and world affairs at a very early age. During a stay in Kensington, London, he spent several midmornings at the public galleries of the British parliament, following the MP’s discussing and, as is common practice there, heavily arguing about the NHS, the Brexit and the lack of willingness Theresa Mays to provide valid answers.
More or less spontaneous participation later in the Model United Nations Conference in Munich made Niklas realize that it can be quite a challenge to fully asserts one’s interests in a moderated debate – especially in a foreign language.
Stays in regions of the world such as Indonesia with completely different cultures, power structures and a different mentality expanded his field of vision enormously.
He studies business administration and is enthusiastic amongst other things about literature, film, and acting.
Niklas is looking forward to attending a project that promises interdisciplinarity, the acquaintance of interesting personalities and whose participants are intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated.
Rouven Litterscheidt
Originally from the beautiful Lake of Constance, Rouven came to Munich to pursue his master’s degree in management. Although he has a bachelor’s degree in mathematical finance, his real passion has always been politics. Currently, Rouven started his doctoral studies and Master of Business Research, where he also hopes to find improvements about how governments and the economy can work better together.
Besides being part of a youth organization of a German party, Rouven could not yet engage directly into politics. However, it is his big dream to work closely with political topics in the future. As he has over 3-years of consultancy experience, being a political advisor is his aspiration. Rouven has a particular interest in issues referring to finance, the economy, and defense. Furthermore, the development of the European Union is his matter of the heart.
Outside of his political and economic interests, Rouven is a passionate American football and eSports fan. Furthermore, he loves to hit the gym and doing every kind of sport together with other people. However, he is also a huge history nerd and thus, is always up for conversations about current or historical events. Rouven hopes that MUNAM and the corresponding conferences will provide him with challenging discussions and new perspectives. He looks forward to meeting new and inspiring people from all across the globe and correspondingly a fruitful exchange of opinions and culture.
Friederike Maisch
Half-German, half-Chinese, Friederike was born in Germany and went to a German school in China. She is grateful to have had the chance to grow up in two completely different cultures. After her A-Levels in 2018, she moved to Munich to study business administration at LMU.
Back in China, she was a member of her school’s MUN club and involved in Shining Star, a social project for disabled children. These experiences shaped her strong will to find solutions to problems.
Friederike speaks German, Chinese, English, French and started to learn Japanese since she came to university. Excited to find out more about different cultures and their international relations, Friederike is looking forward to being part of MUNAM’s delegation.
Caroline Mayr
Born and raised in Salzburg, Austria, Caroline decided to move to Munich after she finished her A-Levels. Since she had been interested in economics and finance in high school, Caroline started to study economics at LMU. In her studies she prefers international trade and behavioral economics. In order to face challenges that are not directly related to Economics she joined the student union of her faculty and also Enactus e.V.
She is a passionate skier and runner and also likes backpacking. Last year Caroline visited India for one month and a year before she was travelling Mexico. But she has not only experience with short-time stays abroad – Caroline took part in an exchange program to Ireland during High School for three months.
Caroline is very thrilled to be part of the Model United Nations Association Munich e.V. and this year’s Delegation Project and sees it is an unique opportunity to gain more in-depth knowledge about international politics and diplomacy. Furthermore, Caroline looks to improve her rhetorical skills and engage in dialoge with people who have different points of view.
Viana Peshkova
Born in Varna, Bulgaria, Viana started learning foreign languages from a young age. Being able to speak German, English and Russian sparked her passion for learning about different cultures and inspired her interest in international politics. In her home country she did active voluntary work in prevention of human trafficking and participated in different international projects such as The European Parliament’s “Euroscola” project. After finishing high school in Bulgaria, she continued her academic path at LMU, studying political science with a minor in law. After a year she switched to studying Law full time, but her passion for foreign policy remained.
Away from her academic passions Viana enjoys sports, having now turned her previous Volleyball career into a hobby, she enjoys playing with friends in her free time. Apart from that she enjoys travelling the world and experiencing new things.
She is thrilled to be part of MUNAM’s Delegation Project 2019/2020 and is very excited to expand her knowledge on politics and diplomacy. She is looking forward to an amazing year as a delegate and is excited to share this amazing experience with the other delegates.
Thomas Puls Caro
Born in Puerto Rico, raised by a Colombian and a German parent and growing up in three different countries, Thomas was always interested in intercultural matters and foreign politics. This also fueled his desire to take part in a school exchange in Canada for half a year and to go on an Erasmus-Semester in Spain last Winter.
Currently, he is studying law at Munich’s LMU. His focus lies on international law and especially on international humanitarian law. He is deeply invested in learning how states can not only coexist but work together, to overcome crises. Thomas is also devoted to improve the situation inside the university in various manners as a member of Munich’s law society. Once a week he works at a law firm that mostly handles intellectual property cases.
Personally, he is a firm believer, that real understanding comes in form of a debate. Therefore MUNAM e.V. piqued his interest. A place where people come together and discuss contemporary issues, seemed to him as the perfect place to challenge himself.
Jurek Siebert
Born in Berlin in 1999, Jurek moved to Munich at an early age. In 7th grade Jurek was accepted into a class for gifted students at a grammar school in Munich which turned out to be an excellent platform to foster and raise engaged and highly motivated pupils. It was in this environment that Jurek became interested in literature and economics. During his time in school, it was mainly the former one which inspired him to attain two summer academies both loosely focusing on German literature in the classicist epoque. He graduated school in 2017 among the highest-ranking students of his year and later in the year passed an additional exam by which he was accepted for the state funded Max-Weber scholarship as one of 200 pupils yearly admitted in Bavaria.
After having finished school and before embarking to university, Jurek decided to enlist for a one-year voluntary ecological service. He worked in a wildlife reservation south of Berlin that used to be a Soviet military exercise ground. There, he mainly performed hands on tasks and helped in extinguishing two large scale wildfires caused by rusting ammunition. Since 2018, Jurek is reading Economics at LMU Munich.
Jurek is looking forward to an exciting and challenging year at MUNAM as he intends to improve his rhetorical abilities as well as his knowledge of international relations.
Felix Trikos
Born in the German town of Friedrichshafen on the border to Austria and Switzerland, Felix grew up in a German-Russian family and thus, he was confronted with many cultures and worldviews from early on. This diverse background sparked his interest in international politics and economics as well as his curiosity for different cultures. He is especially interested in development economics and the economics of inequality. Therefore, he aspires to become an economist. After finishing high school with distinction, Felix moved to Munich and began studying economics at Ludwig Maximilian University in October 2018.
His interests do not only include politics and economics, since Felix also plays the piano and holds a special interest in literature and foreign languages. He speaks German, English, French and Russian. Two years before moving to Munich, his family started to host and care for two unaccompanied and underage refugees – one boy from Somalia and another from Afghanistan. Felix helped them learning German and getting used to life in Germany, while they were giving him insights into their cultures.
As Felix is a supporter of multilateralism and due to his interests, he was drawn to participate in MUNAM. As a member of the new delegation, Felix sees the Delegation Project as a good opportunity to improve his rhetorical and foreign language skills as well as to foster cultural awareness.
Nicholas Vieira da Costa Cunha
Born in Argentina to Brazilian parents, Nicholas moved the USA, where he stayed for five years and only then moved to Brazil, where he had the possibility of studying in a German school abroad and completed his A-Levels.
After briefly studying electrical engineering at Technical University Munich, Nicholas switched to statistics with minor in economics, trying to combine one of his biggest passions (economics), with his love for numbers. As always, being in touch with multiculturalism, his interest for new languages, as well as for international experiences, such as travelling and being able to meet people from different backgrounds, were essential for his development and were what made him interested in Model United Nations conferences.
Despite already participating in some MUNs, he is still very interested in learning more about the UN. He also has many other interests such as playing football or reading fictional stories.
Leonie Walle
Leonie was born in Überlingen in the south of Germany on the shore of Lake Constance. While she was in, high school she participated in multiple exchanges, going to France, England and China which sparked her interest in learning about different cultures. After 10th grade she decided to spend a year in the United States on “Orcas Island”, a small island in the northern Pacific Ocean close to Seattle. During her year abroad she got in touch with political and current issues, leading her to take politics as a main course in 11th and 12th grade.
After graduating with results at the top of her class, she moved to Munich to pursue a law degree. Apart from her studies, she is part of the student body of the law faculty and volunteers with refugees at ‘Lighthouse Welcome Center’. Through her charity work, she got in touch with different cultures and religions enabling her to understand topics from other people’s perspectives.
Through MUNAM, she hopes to spread shared values and grow as a person. In addition, Leonie hopes to further develop her rhetorical skills by debating with like-minded students, slipping into the role of another country.