Emily Dubinsky
Staff Writer
Mira Costa’s Model United Nations Program attended the annual South Orange County Model United Nations conference at Santa Margarita High School on Saturday Sept. 23.
This was the first event for the Costa MUN program this year. The majority of students who attended this conference were novice freshman and sophomore. However, returners to the program volunteered to debate at this conference to practice or as a refresher, according to MUN Secretary General Samantha Walley.
“We view SOCOMUN as a way to get our students warmed up for the year,” Walley said. “Many of them learned a lot which is important for the students.”
Students had three to four weeks to prepare for this conference, including in class speech practice and an in class debate. Students made research binders, in addition to writing their speeches based off of the provided topic synopses.
“We often helped them get ready with ‘roasts’ on their solutions and gave them feedback on practice speeches,” Walley said.
Costa took part in SOCOMUN to give novice debaters practice for future debates, and served a refresher to more experienced debaters. According to Walley, for several of the sophomores this conference gave them a feel of how the year will play out as well as serving as a test run of how advanced committees will happen.
“SOCOMUN really gives our freshmen a chance to try out MUN and see if it is something they want to pursue,” Walley said.
Although Santa Margarita did not give out a school award, a large majority of Costa students received awards. Sophomores Kenna Horgan, Evan Zwicki, and Cooper Smith were among the many students who received best delegate.
“A lot of the chairs that I spoke to about our delegates said that they were some of the most engaged delegates and ere leading the committee,” Walley said. “This is great to hear as an advisor because it allows us to see where we need to work and who is working the hardest.”
Leave a Reply