From Thursday, January 29, to Sunday, February 1, Ayala’s Model United Nations (MUN) travel team, consisting of the President, Vice President of Crisis, Vice President of Teaching, and Vice President of Finance, attended Harvard MUN, the largest and most prestigious MUN tournament in the world.
With over 3,000 students competing and over 5,000 people in attendance, Juniors Laila Kumar, Reese Serafica, Don Kumar, and Lucas Liu showcased their brilliance at the Boston Sheraton and Marriott Copley Place Hotels. For this dedicated group of four representing Ayala, the competition was their opportunity to prove just how far their recently established team could go with determination.
“Our program is not even an entire year old and the travel team hasn’t even been in MUN for over a year,” Liu said.
However, the beginnings of this club are nothing but successful. Ayala’s MUN travel team’s extensive experience and mastery in their work allowed them to dominate throughout the weekend, almost effortlessly competing against others in their committees.
“It wasn’t as hard as we thought it was, so that put us in a better mindset throughout the conference,” Serafica said.
The conference was unlike anything the competitors had seen before at local tournaments in California, yet the tangible competitive space of the rooms, which may have seemed daunting for some, was welcomed by the Ayala students.
“You could tell everyone there, since it’s the best people from around the world competing, there was a very tense atmosphere because everyone really wanted to win,” Don Kumar said. “But at the same time, I feel like it was very unifying in a global sense because there were a lot of different people from all over the world.”
Those in attendance were students from Morocco, Kenya, the Philippines, Peru, and China. Despite some cultural differences occurring, as language barriers had to be adjusted to, the conference achieved an inspiring mix of high school students who all had one thing in common: a never-ending passion for MUN.
“It’s really unique in the sense that we can see every country and like how different we are from them, of course, culturally, but also how Model United Nations kind of brings us all together into one spot and allows us to hear everyone else’s viewpoints,” Don Kumar said.
The awards achieved are as follows:
Laila Kumar: Fifth place in HMUN Sectarian
Don Kumar: Fifth place in Russian Revolution
Liu International: Tenth place in International Civil Aviation Organization
Serafica: Tenth place in United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Liu and Serafica students impressively competed and performed exceptionally in committees with over 100 people in the General Assembly.
“The first day it was really hard trying to get noticed by the judges and trying to get our chances to speak,” Serafica said.
Further complications arose before they attended the conference, as the travel team struggled to gain the proper funding for their MUN endeavors since their founding. The students were forced to fundraise by themselves, including car washing, to alleviate their out-of-pocket spending on the trip.
“Since joining MUN, us four have kind of been on an uphill climb because of the resources at this school,” Liu said. “We commonly go against so many schools that have MUN as a class, they have MUN funding, and MUN-funded field trips. And then we ended up beating a lot of those other people. It’s not just the resources available, it’s more about the effort you put in and how badly you want to do well.”
The importance of the team traveling was only emphasized by the lack of resources. To further expand the club, these students had to prove MUN excellence not only to Ayala but to other competitive schools.
“When we participate in these international conferences, it’s not just attending them, it’s getting Ayala’s name internationally,” Liu said.
The extra effort acted as the driving force for them to compete at such a high level. As motivation to do their utmost best in the tournament, the team became stronger rather than divided over the complication of scarce funds.
“We kind of wanted to play the underdog role where yes, we’re a new club, yes, we’ve been only competing for eight months, but it also shows that if you work hard enough in your craft, you’re able to do something and you’re able to compete at the international level like we did,” Don Kumar said.
With the success of their trip in mind, the club plans to work towards a future where invitations and attendance to similar tournaments expand to all members of Ayala’s MUN, making now the perfect time for students to expand their skill set as a MUN member.
“We’re the fastest growing club on campus, and we just want [students] to know that, although we are a new club, do not let it discourage [you] from joining,” Don Kumar said. “We encourage all new members to give it their shot as long as you’re driven, as long as you work hard, and as long as you want to take that leap forward.”
