by Staff Writers Sumani Alem & Nishi Bhagat
From March 6-8, MSJ Model United Nations (MUN) attended the 68th annual UC Berkeley MUN (BMUN) conference, one of the oldest and most prestigious conferences in the nation. Four of the ten delegates from MSJ won awards; Junior Pradyumn Acharya and Publicity Officer Junior Asutosh Jain won Outstanding Delegates for ECOFIN, the Economic and Financial Committee, and Sophomores Shubham Pruthi and Ameya Chandra won Commendations for SOCHUM, the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee. Involving three days of intense debate, BMUN was the second competition MUN participated in this year.
MUN is a simulation of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization that aims to prevent conflicts among countries and address global issues. Similarly, students participate in committees that specialize in issues, ranging from world health to world trade, and represent different countries and their policies. Students discuss topics associated with their committees’ specializations and draft resolutions that best represent their country’s policies. To explain the process, MUN President Senior Rishi Jain said, “MUN involves addressing prevalent, real-world issues and coming up with practical solutions that are applicable. Delegates collaborate with countries to find a middle ground, and they not only push for their own perspectives, but they also learn to understand others and incorporate that in their resolution.”
Previously this year, MSJ competed at East Bay MUN at California High School where they performed exceptionally well, having eight delegates out of 12 earn an award. With BMUN as a pivotal competition for the team, Jain was surprised at the underclassmen’s ability to keep up with the historically fast-paced competition. Jain said, “Despite the fact that we mainly have [delegates with one to two years of experience] we were able to pick up high-tier awards. In the context of the experience, these students have, we definitely performed better [than previous years] and this is really promising for the future conferences we have and for next year,” said Jain.
Beyond competing at tournaments, MSJ MUN also hopes to plan the first-ever inter-FUSD conference alongside Washington and American High School. “With many young delegates winning awards and a revival in interest for the club, I think the future of MSJ MUN is in good hands,” Jain said.
Cover photo courtesy of MSJ MUN
