By Michael Todd
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa Model United Nations program attended the Edison High School Model UN conference on Jan. 21, and is currently attending the Ivy League MUN conference from Jan. 26-29.
The Edison conference took place at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, and the Ivy League conference is being held at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. A group of approximately 50 novice debaters attended the Edison conference, and 35 advanced delegates attended ILMUNC.
“I want to work as hard as I can to prepare myself for this debate,” sophomore Troy Gleason said. “I’m working with my partner on research so we can put ourselves in the best position possible.”
The Edison MUN official website.
The Edison conference does not give out an award for best school at the conference. However, it was a partner debate and two sets of Costa novice debaters won best delegate awards.
“I like to do extensive research on my topic in order to be prepared for the debates,” sophomore Lucas Falley said. “If you have great research, then you already have an advantage over others.”
Photos: Mira Costa students prepare for their conferences.
The Edison debate was the first for a large group of freshmen this year who are enrolled in the introduction to MUN class second semester. Costa previously attended an advanced conference at Edison High on Oct. 15, however, this conference will be for novice debaters, who may work with partners by choice.
“Edison will be a learning experience for novice debaters.” Secretary General and senior Matt Dumont said. “It’s designed for them to learn and become comfortable debating.”
Video: Model UN students prepare for their conferences by using class time to talk to their partners about their topics regarding the UN. They practiced in class so they would be prepared by the time their conference started.
Costa has attended ILMUNC in the past, their last year attending being in 2013. They have prepared for this debate during the past few weeks leading up to the conference, by using class time to work with their partners and research their topics.
“ILMUNC is our most competitive conference of the year,” Dumont said. “The people competing have put in a lot of work and are expected to represent the best that our program has to offer.”
Costa will also attend the Surf City conference at Huntington Beach High School on Feb.3-4. This conference will be for advanced debaters and approximately 100 students will participate in the debate.
The next conference Costa will be attending is at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Approximately 34 students will attend this advanced conference, which will take place on Feb.9-12.
“These conferences really help our students become better delegates,” Model UN teacher Bob Timberlake said. “We try to rely on our senior leadership as well to help out with the younger students by giving insight and opinion on their topics.”
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