Been there, MUN that MUN's hard work paid of during SBIMUN, their second annual on-campus conference

by Danielle Bellamy

“Rather than a specifc New Year's resolution, I like to give myself a theme for the year — an idea that guides what I’m supposed to accomplish. This year, my theme is focus. Whenever I have to make a decision, I want to be able to choose what the most pro ductive option is. I want to decision-making focus on my per success through year.”

-Micah McFadden, 10

“My New Year’s resolution is to learn how to make foods from all over the world! I love the fact that every country has their own unique and culture. I really love food so I want be able to recreate diferent types dishes in my kitchen.”

-Ashley Gomez, 11

“My New Year’s resolution is to start having better control over my body through practicing better ways nervous energy. than bouncing when I’m sitting example, I want on keeping my through methods deep breathing.”

-Marco Foster, 12

PHOTOS BY MARIN CANTRELL

Model United Nations (MUN) hosted their second annual on-campus conference on Jan. 21. South Bay Invitational (SBI) MUN included fve schools from the area, including RUHS, with about ninety delegates attending debate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This was RUHS MUN’s second time hosting SBIMUN; since the frst conference last spring, attendance rose by nearly 30 percent.

“I think [the conference] went really well. I was really excited that all of our hard work actually paid of and we were able to put something together. I personally loved watching all of the committee updates and seeing how our backroom staf created crazy narratives for crisis committees,” senior Madison Toth, MUN’s Director of Training,

According to junior Jack Raynor, who was one of 13 chairs, a formal title for leaders of committee, during the conference, SBIMUN went “smoothly” with “minimal hiccups.” Raynor chaired a novice committee, which helped introduce new students to the practice of MUN, and enjoyed the “interaction” involved.

This year’s SBIMUN was organized with six diferent committees, ranging from a group of delegates that discussed election cybersecurity to a simulation of the Hunger Games saga. Cabinet members in the conference met multiple times leading up to the conference, including the three days before the Saturday that it took place, to prepare. According to MUN advisor and AP European History teacher Nicholas Sklarenko, committee chairs such as Raynor all have an “extensive level of experience” in MUN.

“I chaired DISEC [the Disarmament and International Security Committee] with two of my really good friends, and I thought it was a blast. There was this fun energy when we worked together and I think that delegates sensed that we were friends as well, which made committee more efortless,” Raynor said.

Between the creation of a website, background guides (which provide information on the committees and issues delegates will cover), placards (which delegates raise if they want to speak), credentials (name tags) and committee assignments, the club has been preparing for this conference since the beginning of the year.

Delegates from RUHS worked to email as many schools as possible across Los Angeles County in order to invite them to the conference. Though reaching out to other schools was “a game of emailing and hoping for the best,” according to Toth, the actual delegate attendance went over “smoothly.”

“I thought turnout was pretty good as a whole. One committee had seven people not show up, leaving only eight delegates for the actual debate, which was rough. But, other than that, each committee was only missing about two or three people, which was expected,” Toth said.

According to both Raynor and Toth, a lot of aspects of the preparation process worked out well. Raynor, who helped write the background guide for his committee, said that getting that information together helped the chairs for DISEC cooperate.

“The three chairs for DISEC did a lot of teamwork. We wrote the background guide together, then I was able to grade the delegates’ position papers, and my other two delegates made a slideshow to help out newer delegates. We were defnitely able to work as a team, and the process wasn't a burden for anyone,” Raynor said.

Other than a small award slip up, which according to Raynor was fxed as quickly as possible, and slight difculties with the communication of chairs from Peninsula High School, which Toth said were easy to navigate and minimal, the conference worked out as anticipated, according to Raynor, Sklarenko and Toth.

“I loved getting feedback from the delegates. I got to make sure that everything we worked so hard to do was enjoyable for everyone else. I asked about the chairs, the topic and the conference as a whole. Overall, the feedback was very positive and I personally am very pleased with it,” Toth said.

According to Sklarenko, the reason the conference was able to fnally take place for the frst time last year and continue on to this year was because of the new level of experienced delegates MUN now has.

“For a conference like this, you want chairs in committees that are knowledgeable and passionate about whatever the topic is. At the start of the year, we got a feel for personnel and moved on to develop topics in committees that would work well for the people we have,” Sklarenko said.

SBIMUN marked a huge accomplishment for all of the students involved, and every delegate, chair, backroom and member involved truly learned a lot and opened themselves to a “new side of MUN,” as Sklarenko put it.

“I was super happy that all of our hard work and late night conversations really paid of. We put together something quite beautiful that can hopefully become bigger in the next couple of years. I feel the conference can expose more people to Model UN and ofer them a chance to get their feet wet, so I hope SBIMUN continues to do that,” Toth said.