Serena Bernstein

Chair

Serena is a fourth-year at the college majoring in Public Policy and minoring in Geographic Information Systems (spatial data and maps!). Though she spends most of the year in Chicago, she is originally from Arlington, Massachusetts - a town right outside of Boston.

Within MUN, Serena served as an Assistant Chair for The Mattachine Society at ChoMUN XXV, a Chair for Dividing Antarctica 2023 at ChoMUN XXVI, and a Chair on a committee at UChicago’s high school conference. Outside of MUN, Serena is active in a variety of other things. She runs a humanitarian mapping organization called Tobler Society, works for a Social Science Institute called SISRM, and is the research assistant for “The Chicago Neighborhood Project”. Serena also loves to hike, paint, and cook.

Serena is also very excited to be an executive for the Dodge City committee, and can’t wait to see how delegates will adapt and overcome all of the exciting challenges that this weekend will bring. If you want to reach out to her you can email srbernstein@uchicago.edu.

Jose Vasquez

Crisis Director

Jose is a fourth-year double major in Political Science and Germanic Studies at the college. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico, but grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah–yes, kind of unusual.

Jose has done ChoMUN all throughout his time at the college, first as an Assistant Chair in The President Wears Prado: The Cabinet of Manuel Prado Ugarteche, 1956, a Crisis Director for One Penguin, One Vote: Dividing Antarctica, 2023, and a Chair for There’s no Surf in Cleveland: Cleveland Emergency City Council, 1978.

Outside of Model UN, Jose teaches elementary students German in an afterschool program, attends a contemporary Spanish book club, participates in our Institute of Politics, and competes in intramural sports. Jose loves baking, playing soccer, and spending hours in a cafe soaking up the time by chatting or people-watching.

Jose is beyond excited to have Dodge City be his last ever experience in ChoMUN, there will be plenty of fun and perhaps even mystery. He looks forward to seeing delegates make this committee their own with drive and creativity. To discuss the committee or preferably book recommendations, baking recipes, or music, feel free to reach out to him at josevazquez@uchicago.edu.

Van Olson

CRISIS DIRECTOR

Van is a fourth-year Computer Science major and Music minor at the college. Born and raised in Reston, VA, he will probably just tell you he’s from DC if you don’t know him very well.

Van was previously an Assistant Chair for One Penguin, One Vote: Dividing Antarctica at ChoMUN XXVI and There’s no Surf in Cleveland: Cleveland Emergency City Council at ChoMUN XXVII. Outside of the MUNiverse, Van co-leads a community service club that helps Hyde Park seniors with tech literacy, works the morning shift at the University’s library tech help bar, and is an ardent participant in the yearly Scav Hunt. When he’s not in Chicago, Van is a big fan of the DC Metro and uses it to get to many a Washington Nationals game. He also plays bass guitar in a band that hopefully by the time you read this will have played a gig, definitely, for sure. Van is thrilled to be a crisis director in Dodge City’s time of need and looks forward to seeing delegates’ creativity and collaboration in addressing the crises at hand.

If you want to discuss music, baseball, or music about baseball, feel free to reach out to him at vanolson@uchicago.edu.