On Saturday March 19th, Marymount held its tenth annual Model United Nations Conference, in which hundreds of students from fourteen different high schools throughout California participated.

Marymount was particularly lucky to have Patricia Sakamoto come share her experiences and her story about her time in Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp, during the opening ceremony, which proved invaluable in providing delegates with a perspective on the serious, real-world issues facing the United Nations that they would then go debate in their committees.

Marymount MUN’s Secretariat, along with Dr. Menard and Ms. Wildermuth, worked tirelessly over the past year to plan the conference, and the event was entirely run by Marymount students, under the instruction of Conference Coordinator Madeline Heldman ’16. This year, Marymount MUN’s Secretariat chose the theme “Asia Ascending” in order to highlight topics that specifically pertain to Asian nations today. Committees ranged from novice to advanced Security Council, and delegates debated issues such as the Death Penalty, Child Trafficking in East and SE Asia, Drug Trafficking, and even a historic committee on Tiananmen Square, 1989.

Marymount students competed in the conference and represented a wide array of nations including Cambodia, Germany, Cuba, Egypt, Malaysia, and Mexico. Other students who chaired committees had the responsibilities of researching the topics of their committees, moderating debate, and scoring delegates, which helped them gain a new perspective on the program as a whole. Brooke Kaiserman, who was elected as one of the Secretaries-General for next year’s MUN program, remarked that, “having the opportunity to chair my own committee made me realize how much I’ve grown since my first MUN Conference and the huge impact our program has by providing students across Los Angeles with a greater sense of global awareness and a responsibility to work for change.”

In addition to several hours of debate and caucusing, Marymount also provided all of the delegates with a delicious lunch from Pei Wei, in accordance with the conference’s theme, and ice cream sandwiches from Diddy Riese. Marymount’s newly elected Secretariat has already began organizing next year’s conference, and Brooke Kaiserman assures that, “it will definitely be the best one yet!” MUN meets every Tuesday and Thursday during Period 9, and everyone is welcome to come join at any time throughout the year.