‘Mun-Mun-Munkeys’ win Best Middle School at TJ’s conference

Eva Sonis and Charita Vootkur|May 12, 2023

Model UN team goes to Thomas Jefferson High School for Technology and Science for the annual conference, and wins Best Middle School on March 25, 2023.

The Carson Model UN team competed in April at the TechMun XXX conference at Thomas Jefferson High School and won the Best Middle School award for the year — the fifth time RCMS has won this award.

Members of the Carson MUN team — or as they refer to themselves “Mun-Mun-Munkeys” — have participated in the annual TechMUN conference at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

At the majority of conferences, the best middle school award is given to one middle school attending the conference. This award recognizes the skills of the students in their team, and the award is decided by a multitude of factors such as the amount of awards or the value of the award. The best award is best delegate, where you receive a wooden gavel and a certificate to recognize the best delegation overall in the committee.

“It was very fun, everyone there was nice,” said Olivia Parker, an eighth-grader on the Discovery team.

Olivia, who won verbal commendation, said she enjoyed the experience as she visited the school for the first time.

Model UN is a club sponsored by Miss Anne Thrasher, a civics teacher on the Dolphins team, and Mr. Brian Corman, a civics teacher on the YellowJackets team, where students simulate being in the UN. They write position papers to provide more facts and details to present in front of their committee. Normally these papers include country background information about the topic and possible solutions to the problem given.

“MUN opens up a lot of opportunities and can open you up to meeting new people,” said Austyn Kim, a seventh-grader on the Mavericks team. “It can also help you in the future with becoming successful.”

As awards came by, everyone on the team was nervous to see if they would be awarded or not. Their reactions ranged from disappointment to excitement, RCMS also won Best Middle School out of 11 different middle schools attending. There was a lot of screaming, and the MUN team also made their own chant called “Mun-Mun-Munkeys” to cheer on their fellow team members as they got the plaque.

“It was not much of a surprise because I’m well experienced, and my double dell [partner] was also the president of the club,” said Zoeb Izzi, an eighth-grader on the Explorers team.

Model UN has helped these students improve their public speaking and collaboration with others.

“It’s really good, and it gives you skills that you can use in the future,” said Shayaan Dutt, a seventh-grader on the Discovery team.

Many of the delegates in Model UN received awards at the TechMUN conference and many of the eighth-graders would love to continue the journey there with MUN, but sometimes it’s not possible.

“I’m not used to high school judges, but you have to remember they are people at the end,” Shayaan said.

Awards