From Mar. 3 to 5, Amador Valley’s Model United Nation club participated in the 2023 Berkeley MUN conference. Of all the participants, more than ten members of AV MUN club received an award as being an outstanding delegate.

“The way the Model UN is formatted is that the judges call on people to speak, and there is a certain topic of each speech. We have a set number of speakers for that topic. I tried to propose ideas for the topics and write speeches for it,” said AV MUN club treasurer, Anika Parkhi (‘24).

As a role play competition, Model United Nation focuses on debating real current global issues. Delegates representing countries from around the world discuss topics related to human lives. 

“There are two topics at our committee, the first one was about artificial intelligence and developments in AI in the international setting. The second one is about genetic privacy. I really like discussing international policies and what our nation can do to work together and collaborate on global issues,” said Parkhi.

Research is the key to a successful debate. To get ready, delegates try to gather solutions and evidence in preparation for the competition. 

“Before the Model UN competition I did a lot of research on my topic. We are required to write a position paper, which in general, it’s kind of a summary. Also, I pre-write some of my speeches to get myself prepared. I tried to find some more related topics I wanted to talk about in the conference,” said Parkhi.

Despite being fully prepared, it’s often challenging to stand out from other delegates in Model UN committees that have over a hundred participants. 

“One of the biggest challenges is to get your voice recognized in your committee because our committee has around a hundred seventy people, which is a lot of people in one group. Oftentimes, judges don’t call on you and there is just not enough time for you to speak. Standing out in the crowd is a big challenge,” said AV MUN club Co-president, Ziyan Liu (‘24).

Model UN participants put their best efforts into the competition while managing time and school work at the same time.

“This time I won the best delegate in my committee. I definitely improved this year and I prepared a little bit more for my speeches. Especially competing this year, with the amount of workload from junior year, it’s challenging to keep up doing enough research,” said AV MUN club Co-president, Ishmeet Dhillon (‘24).

The Model UN club hopes to inspire more students at Amador gain public speaking experience by participating in conferences. 

“I have been doing Model UN since eighth grade, so it has been a big part of my life. I hope our club can grow even more than it has in the past years. We want to encourage our members to learn from the experiences that they have in efficient communication and confident public speaking,” said Dhillon.