![The group poses for a post-conference shot. [Annette Budde]](http://www.jstudentboard.com/reporter/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screen-Shot-2014-04-08-at-1.29.14-PM.png)
Individual awards were given to sophomore Shubh Vijay and junior Roman D’Yachenko for Commendation, sophomore Tiffany Nguyen for Research, junior Krishna Kandala for Commendation and Research, junior Henry Dong for Outstanding and Research, and club vice-president and junior Sreyas Samantula for Best Delegate.
“I was very happy to see that every one of the delegates committed themselves and worked very hard,” Samantula said. “It isn’t often that a small program, like ours, wins this many accolades and it’s great to see their effort paying off.”
To prepare, the group met weekly for a month prior to the competition. Position papers, research topics, role assignments, and more were all discussed at the meetings.
“Involvement in the club is very rewarding,” Dong said. “It helps with developing speech-delivering skills and as well as greater idea development. MUN has helped me a lot with being able to think critically and analytically.”
The conference was divided into three sections—Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced—with each section containing smaller subsections. Within these subsections, delegates came together to address simulated crises. These subsections varied in theme and included current international issues, such as third-world poverty and child slavery, as well as fictional scenarios such as the premise from the popular novel and movie ‘Hunger Games.’
“The whole conference was based around the delegates’ enthusiasm for MUN,” Novice Committee chairperson Danielle Yuhan said. “An entire Saturday devoted to an almost-entirely student-planned event such as this is a Saturday well-spent.”
Thousands of youth – high-schoolers and college students alike – participate in this national organization.
“Model United Nations gives you a more cosmopolitan view and greatly improves your public speaking skills,” Samantula said. “Members of MUN are very well versed with international affairs and current events.”
This is not the IHS club chapter’s first notable achievement. The group participated at the Huntington Beach Surf City Advanced MUN conference earlier in February and won the Best Small Delegation award.
The club’s next conference awaits them at the Huntington Beach Surf City Novice MUN conference in late April.
