Gator MUN Trip

​By Nat Balladares, Senior

Dear delegates,

From January 19th to January 21st, 2018, members of iPrep’s Model United Nations team attended iPrep’s first out-of-county Model UN conference at the Fifteenth Annual Gator Model United Nations conference at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida where temperatures were below 40 degrees and our minds were enthralled with the 40 Florida schools that also came to compete. UF welcomed everyone in the opening ceremony where over 1,000 competitors from grades 9-12 gathered to commence the three day conference. From there on, our iPrep students debated and worked to pass resolutions to solve each of their issues in their rooms.

All in all, the competition was intense and fierce between the 40 schools, but we would like to congratulate Leonardo Silva, iPrep freshman, for winning Honorable Mention in his room, a high honor that is given to exceptional students. We would also want to send a shout out to the coordinators and the chaperones of the field trip: Ms. Gelber, Ms. Pedroso, and Ms. Margarita (Melanie’s mom) for driving us all around the immense campus and taking us to the restaurants.

Here is a look at the assignments that our 14 iPrepians received for GATORMUN:

ASSEMBLY:
Julio Rodriguez: UN Human Rights Council/ Kazakhstan
N'agelie Lazo and Daniella Lopera: UN Office on Drugs and Crime/ Papua New Guinea
Leonardo Silva: World Health Organization II (Anti-Vaccination Movement)/Italy
Sebastian Carranza: World Trade Organization (Italy)
Roberto Bontempi and Carlos Alaniz: Political and Decolonization Committee Kazakhstan

SPECIALIZED ASSEMBLY:
Claudia Teran: International Olympic Committee/ Mr. Mario Pescanta (Italy)
Melanie Wisniacki: Canadian House of Commons (Trade & Terrorism)/ NDP Vancouver East
Heidi Perez: European Parliament (Brexit & Immigration)/ Syed Kamall

CRISIS:
Nick Suarez: Hungarian Revolution / Federal President of Austria-Theodor Korner
Natalie Balladares: Disneyland O’ahu/ Head of Emergency Response
Melanie Rodriguez: California Exit / Mayor Darrell Steinberg
Ben Barker: Joint Mission Phoenix /Ororo Munroe Storm

​Honestly, it would not be Model UN if there were not hilarious resolutions or even actions that highlighted each committee. Here are the best highlights for each committee:

Californian Exit-California actually exist the country and legalizes weed/cannabis without age restrictions
Disneyland- Head of Advertising caught with cocaine, Belle’s castle blew up by Pyrotechnics, a high schooler was decapitated on the new Hawaiian Rollercoaster ride.
Hungarian Revolution- President of Austria was assassinated, but he is replaced by Richard Nixon
UN Office of Drugs and Crime- Papua New Guinea becomes Papua New Thailiand and they declared war on China
Joint Mission Phoenix- Storm divorced her husband Black Panther
World Health Organization: The new mutated strain of Tuberculosis affected the African continent, such as the countries of Angola and Nigeria

Additionally, in the heat of the moment, many delegates deliver perfect lines that even the committee chairs laugh out of their seats and have to yell “Decorum!” just to check the delegates in check. Here are some of the best quotes from each room:

Hungarian Revolution
“[Hungary] will not go begging for scraps from capitalistic pigs and be subject to the iron fist of capitalism once more,” vowed Enver Hoxha, a communist member from Albania.
International Omnic Defense Summit
“Say it loud, say it clear, omnics should be people here,” -representative of China and Greece
Canadian House of Commons
”Canadian President was kidnapped by ISIS lone wolf. We are offering 300 gallons of maple syrup for his safe return”-Canadian Prime Minister
Disneyland Oahu
“This is a blame game,” -Head of Pyrotechnics
“I was not snorting pixie dust!”-Head of Advertising
California Exit
“Sir Lucian Grainge was arrested for business fraud for establishing private connections with the United Kingdom. He will be replaced briefly by Sir Paul McCartney.”

As always, I will motion to close debate until the next conference!

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