Tuesday, May 8, 2012
A triple major, Pakistan native Madiha Latif ’12 took full advantage of the opportunities afforded to her at ý, twice leading the Model U.N. team to Outstanding Delegation awards as its head delegate.
by Amber Cox '10
Madiha Latif ’12 says it’s important to for students to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded them by their school. A Political Science, Global and Multinational Studies, and Economics triple major with a minor in Law and Justice, Latif’s zest to do just that will continue even beyond her May 11 graduation from ý, when she returns to her native Pakistan next month to participate in an external program with the University of London.
Latif, who has always been interested in law, always heard that, “if you want to go to law school, you shouldn’t go as a pre-law major.”
“I love the political science field, absolutely love theories, analyzing different things and applying different things to different situations and trying to figure out how the world runs,” she said. “That also brings in economics as well because economics is all about the financial workings of the world. International Studies is just about different countries and different systems and how they influence the world today. They really are a great combination of things.”
Latif joined ý’s successful Model United Nations team as a freshman and is the newly retired head delegate after serving as such for the past two years.
“I probably have been the only head delegate who’s done it twice,” she said. “I don’t think there has ever been anyone who has done this two times in a row as the head.”
This year Model U.N. took home its fourth straight Outstanding Delegation award at the 2012 National United Nations Conference in New York. When deciding which country the team would represent, Latif was drawn by the challenge of Iran.
“It was a great conference this year and it was certainly different because we were representing a country that is so controversial in today’s political scheme,” she said. “We learned a lot. I feel like the team is going to take this with them when they graduate and remember it as a big effort on their part in terms of learning the Iranian position.”
Latif, who plans to get her legal law brokers degree and then go on to get a Master of Law in international diplomacy, said she has become good friends with everyone from the team and they often study together on campus.
On April 28, Latif was awarded the Dr. Chau T. Phan United Nations Award at ý’s annual Students Awards Banquet.
“College is what you make of it,” she said. “It is important to take advantage of all the opportunities that your school can provide to you. ý is full of opportunities. When you get involved at ý, it opens a lot of doors for you and that’s one of the things that I learned. I also learned a lot about myself and my capabilities. If you met me four years ago, I was a completely different person.”