Student turns ruthless to win at Model UN

In the course of four days in February, Embry-Riddle senior Freddy Elorza found himself trying to save Russia – in early 1849 – from being set afire by revolutionary ideas being spread from France.

He was at the Harvard National Model United Nations, playing Count A.F. Orlov, the ruthless head of Czar Nicholas’ dreaded Third Section, a secret police organization that dealt with enemies of the state with exile, imprisonment, and death.

Elorza’s performance, in which he thought, spoke, and acted like Orlov, was so good he was named Outstanding Delegate in the Joint Cabinet Crisis Committee.

“It was the most remarkable thing I have seen in more than 20 years of watching and training delegates for Model UN competitions,” said Glenn Dorn, associate professor of history at the Daytona Beach campus. “With only three months of preparation, Freddy was able to make up the ground that these political science and history majors from Ivy League schools had with all their years of study.”

With Elorza were 11 other Embry-Riddle students who represented Greece in meetings with other countries’ diplomats to discuss the world disorder of that era and what to do about it. Dorn said Greece was one of the strongest in the committee for days, but lost when some key students fell ill.

Elorza, who has been involved in debating since he was at Belen Jesuit High School in Miami, Fla., says it helps with his major, aerospace engineering. “When you defend an opposing view, you have to understand why people think that way,” said Elorza, who in a debate once took the side of a country that supported Islamist terrorism.

“Your perspective changes and you are able to work with someone with another perspective.”

Other Embry-Riddle students at the Model UN were Kevin Castro, Christina Chu, Azdren Coma, Karima Fathi, Albane Flamant, Filippe Fuller, Andy Lickhardt, David Nierenberg, Nick Stapleton, Joe Tabor, and Armon Tabrizi. They represented Greece.