By Morgan Thaler
Staff Writer
During the week of March 3, 40 students from Costa Model United Nations traveled to New York City and won the “Award of Distinction” at the National High School MUN conference, while a separate group of 40 MUN students won “Best Delegation” at the Berkely MUN LXI conference the same weekend.
Simultaneously winning awards at these two major conferences, Costa MUN students posted their first bi-coastal win in history.
“We were absolutely dominant with our traditional quick-paced style of debate, and I am extremely pleased with our performances at both Berkeley and NHSMUN,” Costa MUN advisor Robert Timberlake said.
At NHSMUN, both foreign and American students debated. Some MUN students had the opportunity to speak on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly.
NHSMUN does not give out individual awards, as it is based on how well each school’s MUN program does as a team.
“Overall, we did very well,” junior Jina Stanfill said. “Speaking in the GA room was an awesome and exhilarating experience.”
Berkeley MUN awarded Costa with six gavels and recognized over 30 of the students who attended the conference.
“Berkeley was a fantastic way to end my Model UN career,” senior Nick Jones said. “We clearly exerted our dominance, and there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Costa MUN is one of the best programs in the nation.”
NHSMUN and Berkeley were the last conferences for all Costa MUN seniors. A group of sophomores will be debating at McKenna MUN I at Claremont Mckenna College in April.
“Though Berkeley is the farewell conference for our seniors, it shows the culmination of the skills that underclassmen have gained and will use to improve,” junior Greg Domeño said. “The success of our program can be seen in the amazing results from our conferences this year.”
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