Calabasas Model United Nations achieved unprecedented success at Bruin MUN on November 8 and 9th. As Bruin MUN is one of the most competitive conferences CHS will face this season, there were months of practice and three weeks of constant preparation. The team of thirty-five was led by Presidents Tomer Fine, Noelle McMorris, and Gavin Tesser.
This was the third conference CHS MUN has attended this year, but the very first University competition for the year, so a lot of the delegates were unfamiliar with this setting. However, the MUN program has been doing well so far, and has had lots of training to prepare, such as weekly meetings and training sessions every Monday.
“Bruin MUN is one of the hardest conferences we attend as a team, so we were definitely nervous, but we ended up really exceeding expectations, and most of the delegates did really well,” said Fine.
Over 150 high schools were in attendance. Calabasas came with over thirty students, and debated topics like climate change, healthcare, and refugees. This specific conference was open to all of the MUN students at Calabasas, but there were limited spots, so it was first-come, first-serve.
“A lot of different world issues that are debated at the UN were debated at this Model UN conference. Because of this program, the youth are civically engaged, and are gaining knowledge on pressing world issues,” said Fine.
Calabasas took home a total of 17 different awards, with Zoey Jubrail, Evan Kozlov, Sophie Katz, and Elon Van Pelt winning Best Delegate Awards, first place for their committees.
“I debated the global implications of trade routes in Antarctica, and how it influenced geopolitical tensions. I also did universal basic income and how it affects economic mobility. We led our group during unmoderated caucuses, and something the chairs really look for when handing out awards is who takes leadership positions in these blocks,” said Van Pelt.
In addition, Hannah Small and Noah Sperling took home the Research and Honorable Mention awards, getting third place out of the 70 competing delegates. The pair debated indigenous water rights in the wider geopolitical spectrum.
“We were definitely a little bit intimidated at first because the level of competition was really extreme, but we increasingly got more confident because our speeches were really good,” said Sperling.
Compared to past Bruin MUN conferences that Calabasas has participated in, this year proved to be the most successful for CHS.
“I was confident that we would win, but we won on a scale that was larger than I expected,” said Fine. “The closing ceremony was held at the UCLA tennis courts, and our school was really being supportive of each other and there was a lot of high spirit amongst them, which was nice to see.”
The next MUN conference is December 13, the annual conference held at Calabasas High School.
