By Shelby Adair
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa Model United Nations team competed at the Model United Nations at the University of Chicago conference from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6. For the first time in 18 years, every Mira Costa student who participated in the conference won an award.
A total of 40 Costa students attended the conference, which was held at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel. Over 2,400 students and 100 high schools from all over the country were in attendance, and many committees contained almost 300 delegates.
“The conference was run entirely by University of Chicago students. It was different than most of the West Coast conferences,” junior Nina Granow said. “It was the biggest conference I had ever attended with 150 countries to debate against.”
Prior to the start of the conference, students participated in team-building activities around the city. The students had to face chilling temperatures when a blizzard hit, but the weather didn’t prevent them from enjoying the city of Chicago.
“It snowed the day we got there and we were able to have a huge snowball fight in the middle of Millenium Park,” senior Jordan Martucci said. “Throughout the trip, we ate at ton of deep dish pizza and explored the city of Chicago. I had a great time and made a lot of friends.”
MUNUC consisted of 22 hours of intense debate spread over four days. The students from Mira Costa represented countries in the U.N. and discussed a variety of foreign policy topics and proposed solutions for global issues.
“Model United Nations is an awesome program because it gives people the opportunity learn about world conflicts and become comfortable with speaking in front of crowds,” sophomore Morgan Livingston said.
Overall, Mira Costa MUN won 40 awards at the conference. The team took 10 first-place awards out of a possible 12, far more than any other high school that attended the conference.
“There were two outstanding awards, and several verbal awards. We are proud that every member was recognized,” Model United Nations advisor Robert Timberlake said.
The students considered the trip to be an overwhelming success and a reflection of the strength of the Model United Nations program in general.
“It was a great experience. Since it was hosted by the University of Chicago, it felt like college, except without Mr. Timberlake throwing snowballs at you,” junior Mia Haas-Goldberg said.
In March, the Model U.N. team will compete at the University of California, Berkeley and the National High School Model UN Conference in the United Nations building in New York City. The team feels confident that it will continue to excel in every upcoming competition.
“We showed our opponents how it is done right by a very good and experienced school. We take this very seriously,” Timberlake said.
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