Hosted by Mira Costa high School, over 800 students from southern California convened to participate in the 17th Annual Model UN conference. Among the roughly 20 high school teams, one Korean American orientated MUN group consisting of a mixture from several local high schools took part this weekend. Sponsored by the non-profit organization, Korean American Coalition, or KAC, this particular Model UN is a unique group of aspiring Korean American high school students learning the art of debate and at the same time, training to be public speakers and leaders in the Korean American community.
Model UN mimics the everyday job of the UN, where high school students well as college students act as delegates from Member State of the UN. The Mira Costa Model Un conference was an all day event, a relatively short conference compared to other conferences, such as the 3 day long UC Berkeley conference. Not only are these conferences long, but also requires each delegate to put in a load of research prior to the conference.
Broken up into the committees of the UN, delegates from KAC participated in various committees, such as Ad Hoc terror, United Nations World Health Organization, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the Security Council. Within each committee, delegates from over 30 nations debated on two stressing current issues and ended each session with a clear resolution in a democratic manner.
It’s a different kind of setting for many of these first time Model UN participants. They faced aggressive and experienced speakers, who had in depth knowledge about their topics, hours of mentorship in school as an entire class, and persuasive, confident speeches.
Andrew, a junior at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, felt that, “I feel like it was like a real eye opener for me and that it made me realize how much I had to work to be better at this.” Isaiah, also a junior at Los Angeles center for Enriched Studies, surprisingly, had the exact same reply. “It was an eye-opener.”
After a grueling first day, the chairs who facilitate the discussions in each committee turn in results for the “Best delegate.” Based on the quantity and quality of speeches, comments, overall participation, and the chair’s first impressions, delegates are judged throughout the entire debate and graded. Results turned out slim for the KAC MUN team. However, they felt empowered through the newly exposed self-education and learning process that they had never experienced. Now that KAC Model UN are accustomed to even the basic procedures and the flow of a Model UN conference, and, now “experienced” Model UN-ers, Isaiah assured that, “ I know I’ll do much better at the next conference.”
