During the weekend of February 28, 21019 through March 3, 2019, the Skyline College Model United Nations (MUN) team participated in the UCBMUN XXIII Model UN conference at the Hilton hotel in San Francisco, CA.
Skyline College MUN is a parliamentary debate team that competes against other universities at regional conferences where they attempt to solve global issues in the style of the United Nations. Committees include crisis, specialized, general assembly formats, and discussion topics range from historical scenarios to the most recent current events.
The UCBMUN XXIII conference featured teams from all over the world, including prestigious universities like UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC and Stanford University. Delegations from universities in Russia, Africa and the West Point military academy provided unique perspectives on the issues in their committees. The best delegate in each committee is awarded the gavel in the closing ceremony after the final session of debate. While the Skyline College MUN team didn’t bring home any gavels from this conference, each member of the delegation had the opportunity to contribute to the flow of debate and to learn from their colleagues from other schools.
For this conference, the Skyline College MUN team also featured eight students from the Skyline College Middle College community, one international student and several Skyline College Promise scholars. Middle College senior, Nicole Liu, said about her experience, “Despite having little experience with Model UN, I gained a lot of confidence over the span of the three days to the point where I voluntarily stepped up to deliver a direct examination in my committee.”
The club’s agenda for the rest of the 2019 semester includes preparing for another competitive debate season next year, recruiting new members, as well as hosting a Skyline College Invitational MUN conference at the end of the school year.
Skyline College MUN actively welcomes new members who are interested in participating in debate both locally in weekly meetings at Skyline College, as well as those interested in travelling to participate in regional conferences and competitions. Please e-mail skylinemun@gmail.com for more information.
Article by Tim Rottenberg
