Every year, the LBHS Model United Nations team travels to UCLA for the two-day BruinMUN conference at the university; this year was no exception. Beginning at 7 a.m. on Saturday, the group of around 25 students embarked on a 1-hour 30-minute bus ride to debate key world issues with delegates from over 20 other high schools nationwide. Committees included topics ranging from the Olympic games to feeding nine billion people by 2050. With this gamut of issues, the delegates were pushed to create innovative and multifaceted solutions that countries from all regions of the world could collectively agree upon.
MUN conferences don’t just a couple of days; weeks of planning, speech writing, and preparation culminate in eight to nine-hour-long conference days. LBHS students worked as dual delegates for this conference, and in each committee, they tackled two different crises that plague our world today. The key to a MUN conference is diversifying your perspective. Instead of viewing an issue from the point of view of US politics, students step into the shoes of delegates of countries from all regions of the world. Through extensive research, delegates strive to understand and embody a delegate of their assigned country and represent that country’s views throughout the conference. Delegates then form multiple resolution groups and create inventive solutions to tackle the problem. The entire conference process inspires creative thinking and pushes students to think of global issues from this point in their lives. An open dialogue regarding imminent world problems is the only way to ensure we can solve them.
Two LBHS delegates, Kevin Hua and Jade Huang, represented Morocco in the United Nations Development Programme committee. Their committee aimed to enhance digital literacy in the workplace and address the Sahel Crisis. After two days of thorough research and collaboration, they walked away with an award for Outstanding Delegate in their committee. At a highly competitive conference like BruinMUN, winning an award is a great honor and achievement.
Kevin Hua, a junior and an advanced delegate, recalls how it was “rewarding to know that [his] contributions to the discussions and the proposed solutions [had] made a meaningful impact.” Hua originally joined MUN because of a desire for “personal and intellectual growth” while simultaneously having the opportunity to “contribute to meaningful discussions” regarding global issues. Hua explains how the award at UCLA reminded him of the “privilege and opportunity afforded by participating in MUN.” Hua was especially touched by the “camaraderie among delegates” and the “mutual support and respect among participants [that] added a communal dimension to… [his] achievement.”
As a novice delegate, this was only Jade Huang’s second conference, and she was not even required to attend. When asked why she chose to participate in BruinMUN instead of a less competitive conference, Huang cites her “[craving] for something new and exciting.” “I wanted to go outside my comfort zone and try something different,” she says. Huang’s competitive nature and desire for a stimulating challenge certainly paid off as she and Hua walked away with an award. “I am extremely grateful for the recognition, and I would also like to thank Mr. Shen and Mr. Todd for always being so supportive,” says Huang. She cherishes the acknowledgment of her efforts and says the recognition “fuels [her] commitment to the MUN team at LBHS.”
BruinMUN pushed LBHS MUN delegates to explore out-of-the-box solutions to real-world problems. Although the drive was far and the conference long, it was ultimately an enriching process that left delegates feeling fulfilled and proud of their accomplishments.
