By Morgan Thaler
Staff Writer
Throughout November and December, the Mira Costa Model United Nations program won numerous awards at regional, national and international conferences and on Dec. 9 held its eighteenth-annual Los Angeles Invitational MUN conference.
The conferences took place in San Francisco, Providence, Rhode Island and Paris, France. The France trip conflicted with LAIMUN XVIII, which was held at the Costa campus.
“Costa MUN has been working really hard so far this year by researching, practicing and improving as a team from the sophomores to the seniors,” Secretary-General senior Taylor Lewis said.
All grade levels of the advanced MUN team participated in the travel conferences. A group of MUN students departed for the Brown University MUN conference on Nov. 5 and returned on Nov. 11 after competing in a three-day debate.
Individual Mira Costa MUN students won a total of six Best Delegate awards or gavels, 12 Outstandings, along with 12 Commendations at Brown.
“We did well at Brown, and about 83% of our group received recognition,” MUN advisor Robert Timberlake said. “We brought a very young group with only seven seniors but still managed to win against our competition.”
The combination of grade levels at the Brown conference was originally thought to be risky by some Costa delegates.
According to MUN students, a major focus was uniting as a team throughout the past three conferences. MUN students aimed to have the upperclassmen help make the underclassmen more prepared with first-hand experience in the past major conferences.
“It was great to have the opportunity to represent our school on the national stage,” senior Jack Rosenberg said. “I was proud of our team for doing so well with such a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors. I think it means good things to come for the program.”
Later in the month, Costa debated at the Regional High School MUN conference in San Francisco from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. The team received the Award of Excellence, which translates to second place.
“RHSMUN was a great experience,” senior Ryanne Martucci said. “I’m proud my sophomore partner, Chase Williams, and I did really well.”
Though Costa MUN has traveled internationally in the past, this year is the first time the program attended the Paris MUN conference in France.
Fifteen Costa students got the opportunity to debate with schools from all over the world from Dec. 1-10 in the United Nations Education Scientific and Culture Organization building. The team received five Best Delegate awards.
“All of our students were treated to a real cultural experience,” Timberlake said.
The students who attended the Paris conference were unable to be a part of the LAIMUN XVIII staff. To make up for their absences, senior and junior dias positions were replaced with juniors and sophomores, respectively.
“It was really fun being a vice-chair as a sophomore,” sophomore Jack Howorth said. “My chair gave me a good amount of time to run the committee, and I got a good idea of what it’s like to be on the other side of a debate.”
MUN increased the number of students that attended from prior years by about 50, totaling 850 students. According to leaders of the program, LAIMUN XVIII was one of the most successful yet.
“Even though we were missing a few vital team members in Paris, we pulled off a conference that ran smoothly and really helped the freshmen learn about MUN and real world issues,” Lewis said. “I’m so happy to be a leader of a program that operates successfully and that can be counted on to step up to the plate, which everyone involved with LAIMUN did to the fullest extent.”
Tech committees were introduced to LAIMUN this year as well. Senior Tyler Shalvarjian and juniors Arani Bhattacharyay and Milo Davis created a way for participating delegates to use computers throughout the day, eliminating the use of paper from four different committees.
“The tech committees at LAIMUN were designed to pioneer Mira Costa’s vision of the future of MUN,” head of Technology Office of Public Information Bhattacharyay said. “This year was successful, and we hope to expand this model from the original four committees to 22 in the future.”
Members of the Costa MUN Secretariat are the main organizers of the event. Each member has a designated role in making sure the conference runs smoothly.
“I’m a believer in student-run production,” Timberlake said. “Although with my experience I do keep an eye on things, in the end, the secretary-generals, Brady Currey and Taylor Lewis, are the ones in charge of handling just about everything and will continue to do so.”
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