Lucas Harward, staff writer
Over 100 Beverly students participated in the fifth annual Beverly Hills Model United Nations (BHMUN) conference on March 1. The majority of students served as delegates on any of the five committees, and MUN members acted as chairs of the committees.
Three of the committees focused on the issues of ISIS, Ebola and the torture of terrorists. The other two committees were more unique, pertaining to World War Z and the Berlin Blockade/Airlift.
Senior Aaron Boudaie, vice president of Beverly MUN, was very proud of the conference as a whole.
“I spent weeks preparing for the conference and was really happy with the amount of research and preparation done by other students,” Boudaie said. “As chairman of the ISIS committee, I saw firsthand very passionate arguments for the world to come together to combat ISIS. This was a great conclusion to my four years in MUN.”
Awards were given to students in each committee based on the quality of their speeches and research, with the highest level being Best Delegate, then descending to Outstanding and Commendation.
| Committee | Best Delegate | Outstanding | Commendation |
| World War Z | Francisco Moncada (11) of Germany | Daniel Barroukh (11) of Finland, Yuan Xie (12) of China | Blake Ackerman (11) of the Bahamas, Max Bell (11) of Ukraine, Nicole Evans (10) of Turkey |
| Berlin Blockade | Emily Rishwain (11) of Yugoslavia | Justin Azarian (11) of the United Kingdom | Raven Castro (12) of Cuba, Shayna Eshmoili (12) of Canada |
| ISIS | Max Yera (10) of Israel | Jackson Stewart (9) of the Philippines | Zach Antin (11) of Russia, Daniel Newman (12) of Syria |
| Ebola | Stanley Wu (11) of China | Eric Choi (11) of France, Ninan Pollack (11) of Switzerland | Brendan Yoon (11) of Egypt, Justin Friedman (11) of Liberia, Judy Kim (11) of Canada |
Senior Daniel Newman, a delegate in the ISIS committee, was very happy to have participated in the BHMUN conference.
“It was such a great experience representing Syria in the ISIS Crisis Committee. I was able to learn about different countries’ opinions on how to combat ISIS and was able to come to a resolution with many allies,” Newman said.
Junior Johnny Barcohana, a delegate from Japan in the ISIS committee, enjoyed the conference beyond just the informational aspects.
“While I did learn a lot about ISIS and my country of Japan, I had even more fun meeting with and talking to people that I’ve never really talked to at school. I think that even if you don’t have much of an interest in global affairs, participating in MUN is just a good way to meet new people,” Barcohana said.
