UCBMUN

New member Margaux Payton joined UCBMUN in Fall 2016! Marguax is a junior studying Political Economy from Poway, California. 

Why did you want to join UCBMUN?

UCBMUN has opportunities for intellectual conversation, political debates and provides a sense of purpose in this frustrating world. I wanted to grow in my debate skills and meet like-minded people from all over the country--celebrating diversity and showing respect for a wide range of opinions. 

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

Justin Trudeau 

What are your hobbies and interests?

Play the French Horn as well as go rock climbing with friends. See awesome performances, lectures and concerts through my job as an usher on campus and work as a peer advisor for students interested and declared in the Global Poverty and Practice minor. I also love Bollywood movies and Indian art and food! 

What are you looking forward to this year? Possibility of going to Delhi to work with the Tata Institute for Social Sciences on a library project and speaking Hindi!  

Our next new member is Jaeyong Danny Han, who hails from Seoul, Korea and is a sophomore majoring in Economics! Danny joined UCBMUN in Fall 2016. 

Why did you want to join UCBMUN? UCBMUN provides a unique opportunity to meet and befriend people with different nationalities, backgrounds and interests. I wanted to expand my horizons of world views, as well as have the chance to debate various world issues.  

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

Nelson Mandela

What are your hobbies and interests?

I enjoy talking about various economic issues, especially health economics. I also take particular interest in British and Northeast Asian politics. Outside of academia, I enjoy playing football (soccer), tennis and listening to classical music.

What are you looking forward to this year? 

Talking and debating with UCBMUN members on wide-ranging issues and staffing our annual conference in SF. Most importantly, having fun!

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

The 22nd edition of the UCBMUN conference, UCBMUN XXII, will be lead by our newly elected Secretary-General Anisha Dangoria and Deputy Secretary-General Nik Mathur! Thank you again to our outgoing SG and DSG, Beckett Kelly and Allie Gordon - UCBMUN XXII will be building off of your success! 

Leila Hooshyar is a freshmen hailing from Morgantown, West Virginia! Leila joined UCBMUN this spring semester, and is a double major in Society & Environment and Economics. 

Why did you want to join UCBMUN?

I wanted to join UCBMUN because after one full semester spent at Cal I realized that I still hadn't found an extracurricular activity that I felt passionate towards and a group of people besides my (awesome) roommates that I could connect to. I also wanted to take part in something that not only made me happy but challenged all of the things that I saw myself as having room for improvement, like public speaking and group cooperation. 

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

Caught between Shirley Chisholm and Michelle Obama 

What are your hobbies and interests?

Running, hiking, camping, going to new coffee shops, historical fiction, almost any nonfiction, Billy Joel 

What are you looking forward to this year?  Getting better at Crisis 

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

Our next new member spotlight is on Raj Aurora, who joined UCBMUN this spring! Raj is a junior Molecular and Cellular Biology major from Redwood City, California! 

Why did you want to join UCBMUN?

Being pre-med is a great, but it get's to be a lot of forced learning of the sciences. Sometime's it's nice to venture out into the unknown, non-STEM world of extra-curriculars. I stumbled across a variety of clubs, but non seemed as charged, novel, and fun as UCBMUN. Here's to the next year!

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

It may be a generic answer, but props to Obama for being the first male president of color. 

What are your hobbies and interests?

Listening to EDM music, going to concerts, road trips, any form of exercise, volunteer service!

What are you looking forward to this year?

Making meaningful memories with people who start as strangers but become close friends.

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

Meet Mahshad Badii! A Political Science major, Mahshad is a freshmen and comes from Los Gatos, California! 

Why did you want to join UCBMUN?

I did an IR camp over the summer after my freshman year of high school that turned out to be a Model UN camp. The experience was incredible and so I wanted to bring it back to my own school, where I started a new MUN chapter and competed. With UCBMUN, I wanted to continue that experience and gain a sense of community at Cal.

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

Catherine the Great

What are your hobbies and interests?

writing, slam poetry, running, playing flute/piano, watching too much netflix 

What are you looking forward to this year?

Improving at MUN and expanding my IR knowledge!

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

Our next new member spotlight is on Fernando Salazar! Fernando is from San Diego, California, and is a junior majoring in Political Science with a minor in Public Policy!

Why did you want to join UCBMUN?

It seemed like a great opportunity to develop professionally and make some amazing friends along the way! I'm happy to say that it's been all of that and more so far :) my only regret is not joining earlier!

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

Margaret Thatcher. She was a total badass and her leadership style was unparalled. She literally rammed things through the opposition. Iconic.

What are your hobbies and interests?

hiking, reading state department policy memos, stress cooking, talking politics ceaselessly until I realize it's 4 am, memorizing Margaret Thatcher speeches, watching scandal, listening to music, and being normal (I swear).

What are you looking forward to this year?

my first UCBMUN!

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

This week’s new member spotlight is on Anya Mansoor! Anya hails from Mission Viejo, California, and is a freshman who intends to double major in Political Science and English.

Why did you want to join UCBMUN?

I wanted to join UCBMUN because I did MUN throughout high school and loved it. I thought that I'd be done with it once I got to college, but after a semester away from MUN I realized I had missed that sense of community and #powerdelegate culture.

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

Nikita Krushchev

What are your hobbies and interests?

I don't know if you're supposed to call television a hobby but I will. I've seen everything from The Young Pope to Seinfeld to the Bachelor, and I will understand even the most obscure of Office references. I also like to play guitar and hike.

What are you looking forward to this year?

I'm looking forward to getting to know everybody in the club and putting a great conference on!!

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

This past weekend, UCBMUN hosted the 21st edition of our annual collegiate conference! Helmed by Secretary-General Beckett Kelly and Deputy Secretary-General Allie Gordon, nearly 600 delegates participated in UCBMUN, coming from both US and international schools. UCBMUN XXI featured four days of debate in 17 committees! 

The weekend started off with opening ceremonies, where the secretariat was introduced, and conference attendees heard a speech from UC Berkeley professor Dr. Nadesan Permaul, who spoke on the importance of liberalism in international relations. 

Our 110 staff were hard at work running committees that spanned specialized bodies and crisis committees, tackling a variety of topics. The Specialized Bodies, run by USG Wendie Yeung, included DISEC (international intervention in civil wars), UNESCO (media censorship and sexual education), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (food security and food aid to developing countries), the 1989 NBA Owners Meeting (building a global game), and the Legal Committee (the Trial of the Juntas in Argentina’s Camara Court).

Crisis committees were organized by USGs Anisha Dangoria, Alison Spencer, and Patrick Babajanian, and included the 2014 Bangkok Shutdown, Teutonic Knights of 1226, the Death of Lenin, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the Porfiriato, the Hong Kong Riots of 1967, the Mau Mau Uprising, Building Zion: the Founding of Utah, the United Nations Security Council, the Ad-Hoc Committee of the Secretary-General, and the Egyptian Revolution JCC: Rebels vs. Government. 

Finally, the social events at UCBMUN XXI are not to be forgotten! Thursday night featured a Bear Crawl, with Friday evening featuring the inaugural Bear Fest, with local food trucks, karaoke, and a photo booth. Delegates and staff celebrated the end of debate on Saturday with Bear Rave, hosted at a San Francisco night club. 

Hosting a successful conference is an enormous endeavor, and we thank the Secretariat of UCBMUN XXI and all club members for their dedication and work this weekend! We couldn’t be more proud of you! 

Catch the UCBMUN “Dream Team” this spring at the RSF, playing co-rec IM basketball on Wednesday nights! We love to provide our members with opportunities to get together outside of debate and conferences, and participating in IM sports is a great way for club members to have fun together! 

UCBMUN jetted off to attend the 63rd session of Harvard National Model United Nations, hosted by Harvard in Boston from February 16-19th! 

Berkeley delegates participated in ECOSOC committees - small committees focusing on wide-reaching international problems such as the global pharmaceutical industry, the protection of cultural heritage sites during armed conflict, and post-soviet states’ accession to NATO - as well as in Crisis Committees, which featured in-depth debate on historical issues, such as the creation of Brazil’s constitution in 1932 or regulation and growth in the American era of the “robber barons.”

HNMUN is the largest conference we participate in, featuring over 3000 students from universities around the world. It is also by far the most competitive, and our delegates worked for nearly 2 months preparing for this conference. Their dedication and preparation shone through the many hours of debate, late night mergers, and early morning lobbying sessions.

But HNMUN wasn’t just all work - delegation members had a ton of fun throughout their weekend in Boston! After three years of blizzards and freezing temperatures during HNMUN, we were lucky that the weather in Boston was beautiful and sunny this year! We took advantage of the sunshine to tour Harvard’s campus on Sunday, while other delegation members explored MIT and historic downtown Boston. Throughout the weekend, many laughs were also shared at team dinners and brunches, and just hanging out together in the hotel.

Anthony Salazar - Honorable Mention, World Intellectual Property Organization

Disha Subramaniam and Nursultan Mussinov - Outstanding Delegate, Historical NATO, 1998

Roya Azarkeyvan - Best Delegate, Captains of American Industry

Grayson Dimick - Oustanding Delegate, Cabinet of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2017

Just one week into the semester, UCBMUN traveled to Sacramento to participate in AggieMUN III, hosted by UC Davis from January 27-29th! 

AggieMUN was a fantastic warm up to a busy spring semester of MUN, and was a great introduction to collegiate MUN for many of our new members! The team especially enjoyed the opportunity to debate and bond together throughout the weekend, as well as being able to see our friends from other California schools. 

Disha Subramaniam - Verbal Commendation, Climate Change Summit

Ruhee Wadhwania - Honorable Mention, Climate Change Summit

Zoe Talamantes - Honorable Mention, European Union 

Patrick Babajanian - Verbal Commendation, Peshwa Bajirao’s Cabinet

Keenu Malik - Outstanding Delegate, Peshwa Bajirao’s Cabinet

Mateo Montoya - Verbal Commendation, Sri Lankan Civil War

Noah Gerber - Honorable Mention, Eisenhower 10 

Despite finals and cold weather, UCBMUN had some fun celebrating the end of the semester and the holidays! On Tuesday of Dead Week, we held a holiday date party (complete with a photobooth) and on Wednesday, we had our traditional “Secret Santa” gift exchange. Gifts ranged from the traditional - including holiday socks and - to gifts that would only be found in MUN, including a Margaret Thatcher t-shirt, a biography of JFK, and a history of the West Wing! 

If the holiday season has you feeling generous, please consider donating to our UCBMUN fundraiser here! 

This week we shine our new member spotlight on on Alice Cao! From Boulder, Colorado, Alice is a freshmen who is studying Applied Mathematics and Business. 

Why did you want to join UCBMUN?

I thought it'd be pretty exciting to travel with a bunch of people I liked.  Also I did debate in high school, so I was interested in both debate and UCBMUN, and finally decided to join this club! 

Who’s your favorite world leader or historical figure?

Justin Trudeau

What are your hobbies and interests?

Driving to unknown destinations in the middle of the night, hiking, baking, playing and listening to music, and hot showers. 

What are you looking forward to this year?

UCBMUN in March!

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

On November 20th, UCBMUN hosted its semesterly one day conference, BayMUN. This is a conference hosted on campus for members of the club, and is also open to all Berkeley students as well as students from local colleges. The Fall 2016 BayMUN was organized by Secretary-General Megan Conner and Deputy Secretary-General Ishaan Maadan. 

This semester’s BayMUN featured two committees on U.S. Cyber-surveillance and the current situation in Syria for one day of heated and enthusiastic debate

Syrian Civil War committee awards

Aric Chang - Best Delegate, representing Geoffrey Onyeama

Rebecca Camacho - Outstanding Delegate, representing Masoud Barzani

Patrick Babajanian - Honorable Mention, representing Ash Carter

Anthony Salazar - Verbal Commendation, representing Jean-Yves Le Drian

US Joint Special Operations Command on Cybersecurity awards

Alice Ma - Best Delegate, representing Ashton Carter 

Johnleigh Dean  - Outstanding Delegate, representing Peter Thiel 

Vaibhav Srikaran - Honorable Mention, representing Mark Zuckerberg  

Tanner Yamada - Verbal Commendation, representing Gregory Lee

Elsa Denis - Verbal Commendation, representing James Comey