By Parnia Mazhar
Staff Writer
Advanced delegates of the Mira Costa Model United Nations are currently participating in a debate at Harvard University until Sunday and a debate closer to home at Surf City XII in Huntington Beach until tomorrow.
The program also had recent success at Regional High School Model United Nations on Dec. 10-13 in San Francisco. At RHSMUN, Costa MUN received the Award of Distinction and the Research and Preparation Award of Excellence, as awards were only given to schools as a whole and not to individual debaters.
“I think we really proved ourselves as a team through the numerous sleepless hours of work and debate,” junior Pardis Khorasani said.
A select group of 28 sophomore, junior and senior Costa MUN students is currently at HMUN among 3,000 fellow delegates and 300 faculty advisors from across the globe. This is Costa’s first time attending this conference.
“Harvard is not as large as some of the other conferences Costa has been to in the past, but it is one of the most competitive and intense debates we have ever attended,” MUN adviser Wayne Knudson said.
While some students will be debating at HMUN, approximately 80 Costa MUN students will be attending the Surf City XII conference. This is an advanced conference that any student in the advanced MUN course can attend. This year, Costa is in the running for the Best Large Delegation Award, but students can also receive individual awards.
“This conference is extremely competitive,” junior Zack Zeoli said. “These debates are always great learning experiences.”
Students prepared for about two months prior to Surf City XII. Because advisers Knudson and Robert Timberlake will be advising at HMUN, history teacher Timothy Piper, who has advised previous conferences, will be chaperoning the students at Surf City XII.
“This conference is a good opportunity to give underclassmen a solid and stimulating experience as well as giving upperclassmen another chance to better their speaking and diplomatic skills,” Piper said.
Select sophomore, junior and senior Costa MUN students have already started to prepare for Berkeley Model United Nations at the University of California, Berkeley from Feb. 27-March 1, and National High School Model United Nations in New York City from March 4-7.
“I’m looking forward to meeting new people and working and learning about important issues in the world,” senior Louis Yudowitz said.
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