By Justin Hsieh
This past weekend, the FVHS Model United Nations (MUN) team traveled to UCLA to compete in the 27th installment of BruinMUN, the university’s annual conference for high school students from around the country and the world. In a field of over 1,500 students from a multitude of highly competitive schools, the FVHS team was able to deliver a solid performance that reflected well on the club’s growth over the past two years and its prospects for the future.
The FVHS team brought 23 students (delegates) to the conference, with eleven partner pairs and one single-student delegation competing in committees ranging from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to the UN High Commissioner on Refugees. Of the 23 members of the FVHS team, nine were first-time delegates who made their competitive debuts at one of the largest conferences of the year.
“Before the conference I was really nervous about what it was going to be like,” said freshman Sierra Springer, who represented Israel in the World Health Organization. “I had never been to an MUN conference before so I didn’t really know what to expect despite my preparations. It really helped that it was a dual delegate conference because my partner just told me to be really confident when I spoke.”
Despite the inevitable pressure of a first-time conference, however, these delegates were able to rise to the challenge and performed admirably in their committees, coming away with a solid foundation of experience and confidence for future conferences.
“I feel like I performed well for it being my first conference,” said Springer. “I feel very prepared for the future conference because now I know what they are formatted like and the importance of doing different tasks.”
In addition to the club’s first-time delegates, a strong group of returning veterans also excelled at the conference. Among them, sophomores Judy Liu and Isabella Galiteva received an Honorable Mention award for their representation of Bosnia & Herzegovina in the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
“I thought my performance was alright,” said Liu. “I spoke more and I began to lead more in the unmoderated caucuses, rather than just standing on the side and listening. Overall, I felt like the conference was just such a rewarding experience.”
The conference was a milestone for the club, which over the past two years has grown its membership significantly and for which BruinMUN attendance is a significant indicator of the year’s trajectory.
“This was our most successful year yet,” said FVHS MUN President senior Jeffrey Carr. “I would never have thought that after bringing six delegates two years ago that we would compete as a large delegation of nearly 25 members this year. Each of our delegates competed at the highest level, and I am proud that our team became closer as a group through this conference.”
Carr says that BruinMUN is also important for the club because it offers new delegates an excellent insight into the merits of the program.
“As BruinMUN is one of the most popular conferences of the year, I hoped that in attending, each of our delegates would gain perspective into why Model UN is such an enjoyable and rewarding program,” said Carr. “From past years, I have learned that from this conference at UCLA, everyone leaves making invaluable experiences while gaining new friends along the way.”
Comments from first-time delegates after the conference indicate that Carr’s goals were achieved at BruinMUN.
“BruinMUN was filled with so many great experiences that I can’t wait to recreate in future conferences with the FVHS MUN family,” said freshman Margrett Thai, who represented Israel in the UN Environment Programme. “In no other club will you get to visit a prestigious university, take on a role of a country and debate on their behalf, and meet so many people from around California in just one day.”
