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Donated by: GatorMUN

   They present cases in the conference room, debate their resolutions, and represent entire nations. Model United Nations, or Model UN is a competition in which students are able to present at a certain assembly where they will debate different issues—including gender equality, climate change, global health and more. The students have their mind set on going in strongly and representing their award-winning school, Pines Charter. The Jags’ Model UN representatives made their way to compete at the University of Florida from January 20-23. Before and after heading to the GatorMUN event, three students offered their thoughts on their presentations. 

Preview of GATORMUN: 

   “I am super excited going into this conference. The University of Florida not only has an amazing campus, but hosts an incredible competition. In terms of my expectations, I hope to meet a lot of new people and embrace my position within my committee; I’ve made so many great friends through Model UN. The committee I am doing is known as “Ad-hoc”, which is usually more challenging as they do not disclose the topic until 24 hours before the conference starts, leaving less time for me to prepare. With that being said, I hope to own my role, and who knows, maybe I can win an award. I have had good success winning at other tournaments such as the University of Miami and University of Central Florida, so hopefully UF will be no different. All in all, I hope the team has fun and can use Model UN as an outlet to express themselves, especially through public speaking.” – Gavin Poore (Junior; Events Coordinator)

   “I truly never know what to expect from these competitions. I went last year and it was very fun so I’m expecting for this to be as fun as it was last year. I’m honestly expecting everything to be very competitive. I hoping that my team will do their best and be proud of what they achieve at this competition. And I also want them to enjoy themselves even if this is a competition. I’m hoping for an award but with these competitions you never know who [your] competitors will be. I believe that if I enjoy myself and do not worry about awards, I tend to do better.”- Daniella Millian (Junior; Parliamentarian) 

“I am really happy with the group that came this year to GatorMUN, although not everyone was able to come, I think the MUN will be great. With it being my last year at GatorMUN I’m super emotional because this was [the] first ever [competition] I went to and the last. My expectations [are] for everyone to have fun, meet new people, hear different perspectives, and for them to step out of their comfort zone. I’m confident at least some of our members will get mentions and I’m extremely confident that GatorMUN will mark them like it did me, just because it’s so big.”

-Nicole Becerra (Senior; President) 

Review of GATORMUN:

   “The competition was so much fun! My committee was extremely exciting as each delegate participating [was] very talented and experienced, so I was up for a good challenge. Overall, I learned a lot and managed to get 4th place, which I am very happy about! I made a lot of great friends, and I hope to apply my new knowledge within future competitions. While I believe that awards don’t define students, I am extremely fortunate to have placed and am looking forward to future tournaments!” -Gavin Poore (Junior; Events Coordinator) 

   “I was fulfilled by the competition because since it has been a year since I started MUN I just wanted to get a paper award. However, I didn’t go into the competition with any really high expectations because you never how the competition may go. I was in shock when I got my award because I was honestly not expecting to get one this competition. But, I was so excited because it felt that my work paid of during the years of the  different competition I attended. But I’m also so proud of the people on my team because they worked hard and [their] hard work paid off. I’m also glad that people attended the competition and they enjoyed and worked hard.” – Daniella Millian (Junior; Parliamentarian)

   “The competition was great! I know everyone had fun, they met new people, and it was a new experience for some and the last experience for others. Personally, it was the first time I ever did ad-hoc which is when you get the topic the day before the competition so there’s not a lot of time to prep. I absolutely loved it and it touched on women in the world economy as well as how war impacts women. Even though I personally did not place, it was an amazing experience and I would love to do ad hoc again. Daniella Milian, Gavin Poore and Mallory Brown did place. Gavin with a verbal recognition, Mallory Brown won best position paper, and Daniella won honorable delegate. I wish everyone that wanted to go to GatorMUN was able to go but this year they put a limit. Certain individuals were definitely missed like Matthew Castillo and Jovan Alfonzo and many others, but aside from that, it was great.”- Nicole Becerra (Senior; President)