Arcadia High School’s Model United Nations (MUN) team competed and gained success at Valley Regional Model United Nations (VRMUN) on Feb. 4, which has been recognized as one of the biggest high school MUN conferences in California. The MUN team of Granada Hills Charter High School has hosted VRMUN for the last three years, and there is no doubt that this conference is significant and meaningful.

An MUN conference is a supranational organization that strives to achieve the sustainable development objectives, which are comparable to eradicating inequity, promoting peace, and eliminating prejudice. When it comes to students, they act as the representation of a nation, organization, or person, and must cooperate with other delegates to solve an issue. 

Research, public speaking, debate, and writing are just some of the abilities that are taught to MUN members, in addition to critical thinking, collaboration, and leadership. Student delegates are expected to have the ability to generate solutions, negotiate, and engage in conversation with other delegates to learn about their approaches, finally allowing delegates to compose and deliver the resolution: a combination of the many solutions. Preparation commitments are essential to the official conference, and it is certain that Arcadia MUN delegates put a lot of effort in preparation of the VRMUN.

There were five committees in one day, and each committee was filled with debates regarding complex issues. The committee was also engaged with professional tones and instructional participation. The general speakers’ list is a speech that summarizes the solutions they prepared. Delegates speak at moderated caucuses on the issue that has been brought up. Unmoderated caucuses are caucuses where members stand up and engage in conversation with one another to create blocs, draft resolution papers, and discuss. The conference is over after all the resolution blocs and papers have been formed, an official caucus has been held, and resolutions have been presented. Generally, the committee is quite straightforward, switching between moderated and unmoderated caucuses

Before all the conferences, the committee started off with Senator Alex Padilla’s opening speech. He addressed all the fellow delegates with a few words of encouragement and discussed his experience, as well as MUN in general.

The day went very well for the Arcadia delegates, as all of them were actively involved in debating topics and achieving coupled with effectiveness!

Sophomore Darya Derakhshani expressed her appreciation towards the conference: “It was very fun and informative! Mid-conference, we were able to ask our chairs for advice and feedback for future conferences. This was very helpful, and I was able to get some great tips! At the end of the conference, I had a ton of fun cheering on our members as they got awards. Arcadia got so many! I had so much fun and will definitely attend next year.”

When asked about the preparation of the day in general, Derakhshani expressed that “everyone is so supportive! Whenever [she has] a question about anything, [her] members are able to answer with open arms,” she said. “The officer team is particularly admirable because they always try to provide us with resources such as workshops and practices. I’ve been able to find so many friends in MUN, I’m very thankful to say the least.” 

“For VRMUN, it was a very novice friendly tournament with nice judges and nice people. I had a lot of fun, they gave us lunch, and the whole experience was really lovely and nice,” said MUN Historian, sophomore William Pan, who was awarded as Specpol Outstanding Delegate.

The awards are as follows:

UNEP Best Delegate:

Euan Laru-An and Ashley Lim

SOCHUM Outstanding Delegate

Jiali Jiang

Specpol Outstanding Delegate

William Pan

UNESCO Honorable Mention:

Amiruthaa Amudharasan

CSW Verbal Commendation:

Alysia Shang

Congratulations to all Arcadia delegates for their outstanding job in their committees! Keep the hard work and good luck to future conferences!

Photos courtesy of AHS Model UN