Thurston Model UN

Welcome! This is the website for the Model UN Club at Thurston Middle School. Check the announcements for deadlines and conference info, and the weekly recaps if you missed a meeting or want to see what we've been up to.

What is Model UN?

Model UN is a pretend version of the United Nations. Each student is assigned a country and acts as that country's delegate. You research your country, give speeches, make deals with other countries, and try to pass resolutions about real problems in the world.

You argue for your country's views, not your own, even when you disagree with them. That's half the fun.

What we do

In MUN club, we learn about what is going on in the world around us, and practice public speaking and problem-solving along the way. You can also compete at conferences against other schools. Don't worry if you're a little nervous: everything is optional, and we do a lot of practice.

We sometimes do deep dives into related topics that MUNers are interested in. Last year we learned about the US intervention in Venezuela, the political and economic spectrum, and the social contract, a philosophical question that balances individual freedom and government order. This isn't a school class, so meetings don't get boring. We also do flash debates and play games like Jeopardy.

When a conference is coming up, we get ready for it together: how debate works, researching your country, and writing speeches and position papers. The weekly recaps cover what we've done at meetings.

New members sign up at club rush at the start of the year. Questions? Email Jack at jack.liston@lbusd.org.

Conferences

Next conference: TBD. Watch the announcements for news.

Conferences we've gone to before:

• Tustin MUN at Tustin High School (November)
• Firebird MUN (January)
• LBIMUN, Laguna Beach High School's own conference (March)
• McKenna MUN (April)

Conferences are usually on a Saturday and take up most of the day, about 8am to 4:30pm. Delegates can win awards, and Thurston delegates won three awards at Tustin MUN in 2024 and four in 2025.

What to bring to a conference

• A signed permission slip
• Western Business Attire (a professional-looking suit, dress, etc.)
• Your printed-out speech
• A notebook or paper, and something to write with
• A backpack

Writing your speech

Your main speech should be about 90 seconds:

1. A one sentence hook. Why is this issue important?
2. About 30 seconds on your country's policy. What has your country done about this topic? Use specific examples.
3. The rest on solutions. These should be solutions for the UN to implement, not just your country. About two good ones is plenty.

Print it out. You don't need to memorize it, but you should be able to look up from the page while you speak.

Writing a position paper

A position paper has four parts:

1. Background of the issue
2. Past UN action on the issue (be specific)
3. Your country's policy: its stance on the issue and what it has done before
4. Solutions in line with what the real country would do

If you're representing a person instead of a country (like in a crisis committee), write about that person's stance and actions instead. Some conferences require a position paper to be eligible for awards, so check the conference website for its guide and due date. For Firebird MUN it was about 2 pages plus a works cited page.

MUN vocab

• Delegate - a student representing a country (that's you).
• Committee - the group you debate in, like the World Health Organization (WHO) or UNESCO.
• Novice committee - a committee for beginners.
• Crisis committee - a committee where you represent a person, like a historical figure, instead of a country.
• Chair - the person running the committee. They call on speakers and keep time.
• Position paper - a short paper you write before a conference about your country's views on the topic.
• Western Business Attire - the dress code at conferences: professional, formal clothes.
• Placard - the card with your country's name. Hold it up to be called on.
• Speakers list - the order people give their speeches in.
• Moderated caucus - short speeches on one part of the topic, with the chair calling on people.
• Unmoderated caucus - free time to get up, talk to other delegates, and write.
• Bloc - a group of countries that agree and work together.
• Working paper - a first draft of ideas. Once the chair accepts it, it becomes a draft resolution and the committee votes on it.
• Preambulatory clauses - the first part of a resolution, explaining why it matters ("Recognizing that...").
• Operative clauses - the numbered part that says what should actually happen ("Calls upon all member states to...").
• Motion - asking the committee to do something, like "motion to open a moderated caucus."
• Point of order - speaking up when the rules aren't being followed.
• Yield - what you do with extra speaking time: give it back to the chair, take questions, or give it to another delegate.

For families

Questions? Email Jack at jack.liston@lbusd.org.

Each conference needs its own signed permission slip, which we send home before the conference. Arrival times, transportation, and other details change from conference to conference, so check the announcement for each one. (For Tustin MUN, for example, transportation isn't provided.)

Links

• United Nations - the official UN website
• UN Charter - the agreement every member country signs
• LBIMUN - committee topics and info for Laguna Beach's conference
• Sustainable Development Goals - the UN's 17 goals, good for finding topics
• CIA World Factbook - basic facts for researching your country