Berkeley is F-U-N for M.U.N.

Starting from early in the morning on March 5 to late at night on March 7, students from Northwood’s Model United Nations (M.U.N.) competed at a statewide conference held at UC Berkeley.

These students flew to Northern California early Friday morning and prepared themselves for a vigorous weekend full of debates and diplomacy.

Students participated in various committees such as the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian committee and the Disarmament and International Security committee. With over 100 schools competing and 1,500 students present, the results for Northwood were beyond expectations.

“This conference is very competitive,” said adviser Vadim Rubin. “It’s the most prestigious conference on the West Coast – and the oldest, too. We had very well-prepared students, but it’s not easy to stand out.”

After over 10 hours of committee, seniors Kristine Lee and president Kevin Kim were awarded with the honor of Best Delegation in the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian committee.

“The competition was incredibly intense,” and Kim. “I’m still surprised that we won. It’s important to keep things in perspective though. It’s nice to get recognition for your hard work, but the most important thing is not to sacrifice the quality of your research and resolutions just to try to win. There’s no point in getting an award if your resolution would make absolutely no sense in the real world.”

Lee adds, “One of my favorite things was being able to mingle and engage discussions with a lot of charismatic student-delegates in our committee. As nerdy as this sounds, it was really exciting for me to take part in this mock-diplomacy experience. Also, in retrospect, I think that the frustrations of having to strike a balance between being flexible and firm with my views, especially in negotiating with people who have completely different thought processes, really broadened the scope of my views.”

Though both Kim and Lee had great success in competition, both reveal that their favorite part of the weekend did not take place in committee.

“Hanging out with a lot of people and getting to know my fellow Northwood delegates was definitely the highlight of the trip. Clubs like M.U.N. don’t just help you learn more about the world, but they give you so many opportunities to meet great people,” Kim said.

Lee agrees.

“[I enjoyed] spending time with my favorite M.U.N.-ers, trying new foods and exploring the oh-so-beautiful ghettos of Berkeley,” said Lee.