Marymount’s nationally-ranked Model United Nations program has been preparing for its first conference of the 2018-2019 school year since the second day of school. At this conference, held on Saturday, September 22nd at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in southern Orange County, 52 Marymount MUN delegates competed and 20 won awards──39% of the MUN team! The intensive weeks of research, meetings, and mentoring leading up to the conference were well worth it! Kelly Kim ‘19 and Andriana Marijic Buljubasic ‘19 (also known as “Keldriana”), the Co-Secretary-Generals of 2018-2019 Marymount MUN, also attended the conference as Student Advisors, visiting every single committee multiple times.

Along with all of the excitement and awards of this conference, Marymount’s MUN Secretariat has been preparing for many other upcoming MUN conferences and events this year, along with Marymount’s own 13th annual conference, MM-MUN 2019, on Saturday, March 16th, 2019. The 2019 conference theme will be “Redefining Rights.” Kelly Kim ‘19 and Andriana Marijic Buljubasic ‘19 selected this theme because they noticed that “in the past few decades, the foundational values of international law and societal discourse have shifted.” Kelly and Andriana felt “the need to address some of the most controversial issues through the lens of modern society in order to “redefine” what exactly rights are, along with devising comprehensive solutions.” They noted that this conference theme will “not only focus on human rights, but also environmental and technological rights that have become increasingly relevant in the 21st century. Through encouraging diplomacy and debate, our goal is to increase awareness of the complex issues pertaining to ‘rights’ so that delegates can learn to foster peace and cooperation in the international community.” Students of all grades who are new to MUN and countless returning MUN-ers always are invited to attend this conference, along with delegates from 12-15 other Southern CA high schools. All delegates are invited to participate, regardless of experience.

In addition, Marymount’s Model United Nations program will also be hosting several events during this year’s Global Community Week! Global Community Week is always held during the week of October 24th, the anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. On Monday, October 22nd, 2018, students of all grades will participate in a variety of exciting annual activities like the Global Awareness Competition between each class followed by the MUN volley, a game between students and faculty. On Wednesday, October 24th, 2018, students will have the opportunity to take part in the International Prayer for Peace, in which all faculty and staff are invited to pray a designated one-line prayer in his or her national language. Last year 28 different languages were spoken!

Members of Marymount’s MUN delegation will be attending numerous upcoming conferences throughout the 2018-2019 school year, including conferences at UC San Diego (Triton MUN) on October 27, 2018, in Seattle (PACMUN) from November 9-11, 2018, in Boston (BosMUN) from February 8-10, 2019, at UC Santa Barbara (Gaucho MUN) from February 15-17, 2019, and finally, at Claremont McKenna College from April 13-14, 2019. Students of all grades can join MUN at any time. With all of the exciting upcoming conferences and events, this year is sure to be the best year of MUN yet!