On Nov. 6 and 7, the Oak Park High School Model United Nations club attended BruinMUN, an international hybrid MUN conference that took place at the University of California, Los Angeles. 19 club members participated and prepared for the conference both inside and outside of school.

“The Board has worked together to create prep material for the members,” junior and MUN club president Nandhini Kothapalli wrote to the Talon. “The planning process was intensive and involved a lot of practice, especially considering the transition from virtual school and conferences last year to the in-person format now.”

MUN is a mock simulation of the United Nations in which delegates representing countries convene at conferences to debate prominent issues across the globe. The two-day conference at UCLA consisted of four committee sessions, each following a formal debate and voting blocs with an informal debate as well.

“Our delegates attended a plethora of committees including General Assembly and Crisis,” Kothapalli wrote. “We even won two awards: Outstanding Delegate and Verbal Commendation!”

For many MUN club members, it was their first-ever conference. Junior Abigail Jeffie and freshman Kavya Mehta won Outstanding Delegate and sophomores Jackson Hill and Ray Beindorf won awards in Verbal Commendation.

“We had amazing reactions and were so pleased with the way our members handled the conference, and am extremely proud of every single one of them,” junior and MUN vice president Manisha Arun wrote to the Talon.

OPHS MUN plans to attend four more conferences, three of which are in-person and one virtual at Columbia University.

“[BruinMUN] set a precedent for Oak Park MUN as a whole,” Arun wrote. “We are so excited to see everything this team can accomplish in future years!”

As of now, the club meets lunch weekly in room C-8 and occasionally after school in G-9.

“Anyone is welcome to attend!” Kothapalli wrote.