Meet the VICS XVII Secretariat!
Anna-Sofia Yurtaslan, Secretary-General
vicssg@gmail.com
Danish by birth, half-Turkish by ethnicity, confusingly multi-cultural by upbringing, Anna-Sofia is a Global Development Studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences. Having spent most of her childhood in South East Asia she satisfies few Scandinavian stereotypes, but remains a truly nationalistic Viking (even owning a helmet with blonde braids attached). Anna-Sofia’s first Model UN conference was in 2006 and she has only grown more passionate about it at university. She spent her first year at the University of Aberdeen, the most Northern university in the UK with the world's largest urban seagull population, before transferring to the University of Virginia last fall (but is not the Secretariat expert since our USG for PR is a true Scot)! In her free time, Anna-Sofia enjoys teaching people random cultural facts (did you know Danes sing and dance around the Christmas tree?), indulging in food fantasies (momo's, butter chicken, risengrød mmm), and perusing the news for quirky stories. With both international and VICS-specific Model UN experience, Anna-Sofia is confident that she, together with her brilliant Secretariat and Staff, will deliver an unmissable conference!
Ayla Yurtaslan, Charge d'Affaires
vics.charge@gmail.com
In case no one has worked this one out yet, yes, Ayla is in fact Anna-Sofia’s younger, albeit slightly taller sister (Anna-Sofia is still in denial, but perhaps at the conference you can catch them next to each other, in which case it’s an undeniable fact). Ayla is a first year at the University, where she frequently can be found wandering around admiring the beautiful Grounds, usually resulting in her running late. In her free time, Ayla enjoys cooking, usually followed by eating(!), day dreaming of her future retirement in Sri Lanka (this is not so random considering she graduated and attended her first MUN conference there), and naturally raising awareness about one of her true passions – the greatness that is the Kingdom of Denmark. Although not usually done in her free time, Ayla is also an enthusiastic doodler, leaving no surface of her notebooks blank.
Dante DiSimplico, Director-General
dad2df@virginia.edu
Dante was born and raised in the great state of Delaware (also known as “the first state” and home of tax free shopping) and has been done Model United Nations since he was first introduced to it in sixth grade. As a first year (or freshman at every other school but UVa), he hopes to continue his love for Model UN while at UVa. He is currently taking both politics and commerce classes and is looking to study both of them in the future. Having been a Model UN delegate numerous times, Dante now hopes to create dynamic crisis simulations pushing delegates to the brink of their creativity and well even sanity. His life motto is “work hard, play hard” and when not doing Model UN or school work, Dante enjoys playing sports, especially soccer (shout out to all those Serie-A fans), listening to music (everything from Zac Brown Band to dub step) and skiing.
Sereen Thahir, Chief of Staff
sst7jq@virginia.edu
Catriona Macfie, Under Secretary-General for Public Relations
cmm4wv@virginia.edu
Catriona is currently a third year foreign affairs major in the College of Arts and Sciences. Born and raised in Scotland, she is basically the resident William Wallace (also known as Braveheart in the US- hilarious but historically inaccurate movie)! She spent most afternoons at the pub getting trollied in her kilt school uniform, because yes, people DO wear kilts in Scotland. Catriona believes she will be a great contribution to the VICS Secretariat since she will be able to teach them REAL English: pants= underwear, hair tie = bobble, soccer= football. When she isn’t being lectured about current events by Anna-Sofia, Catriona is having a wee bit of fun skiing, scuba diving, skydiving and searching for the loch ness monster. Obviously this edgy Scotsman will be in charge of VICS’s legendary social events and is mad excited for the most slamming conference ever! Haggis anyone?
Victor Salcedo, Under Secretary-General for Logistics
vhs9sf@virginia.edu
Victor Hugo Salcedo is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Foreign Affairs and Latin American Studies. Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, he is the one who will bring the Latino flavor to VICS.Victor spends most of his time thinking about soccer (FC Barcelona fan anyone?), surfing, taking pictures, texting (damn you BlackBerry!) teaching people how to dougie, trying to find the perfect quote, and cooking Venezuelan food for his roommates. His first Model UN experience was in Venezuela when he joined other delegates in the first Model UN conference of his high school. He has been in IRO for more than a year improving his Model UN knowledge; last semester he staffed the Bolivian Cabinet committee, and two years ago he was president and founder of the Model UN team of his previous community college . When he's not too busy day-dreaming about quitting school to travel to Latin America in quest of the perfect wave, he practices salsa dancing, ways to get rid of his Spanish accent, and thinks about new ways to make this next VICS conference the best!