May 2, 2010
By: Connor Madalo (Southwest/Riverside YMCA and Devynne Flower (Santa Monica)
On May 1st the Friendship Ceremony was held in Academy Two at the prestigous Burbank Marriot hotel. In this event ambassadors sang songs about friendship, exchanged pennies, and gave phone numbers. Everyone was sad, and some even cried when they said goodbye, but each friend knew they would see eachother again. Different songs were “Lean On Me”, “Magic Penny”,” One Love”, and “Imagine”. All these songs were played on the guitar by Steve, the man who runs Morning Inspiration for MUN ambassadors …

Date: 5-2-2010
By:Leah Herkert BBC news
Yesterday in ECOSOC, there were 8 resolutions that have yet to be passed. I got the results of the five out of the eight here. The first resolution was a amendment on child laber that recommends that countries put the following regulations in place: at least six hours of education spread over two days each week, age appropriate work for all children under the age of 16, minimum work age is 7 years old and the same education is required for children under 7. The second …

May 2, 2010
By:  Abigail Mitchell (South Pasadena YMCA)
ECOSOC didn’t  pass resolution six, which is crime prevention in urban areas. However they did pass resolution seven, which is using technology  to improve the education of children all over the world. Cameron Marsh, representative of Lebanon, fully supported the idea of improving the education. “My country believes that the larger population the more funds you need.” Lauren Smith, representing United Kingdom, couldn’t have agreed more. “If we approve this it will fund schools, so they could buy textbooks and hire teachers.” Even …

May 2, 2010
By: Elizabeth Essex-Sullivan (Torrance/South Bay YMCA) Interfax
Today I met with a girl named Leah Herkert. Leah is thirteen years old and is part of the CCY delegation. All the people that took part in Modeled United Nations are sad that the Burbank Press conference has come to an end. I asked Leah a few questions on how she thought the conference went. “My favorite part was coming to Burbank and I liked the dance.” Leah is in eighth grade so she will not be able to take part …

May 1, 2010
By: Esteban Cabrera (Pescadero YMCA)
On Friday, May 30th, Model United Nations participants got together to have a social dinner with their delegations. The MUN program teaches kids from California about happenings in the world, and delegations are the groups of YMCA’s that work together to learn about issues.
The delegation dinner is great, because it is not as crowded and noisy as the a convention dining hall at the Marriott, where the ambassadors are staying. Some groups, like the Pescadero Y & G, go to diners like  the Daily …

May 2, 2010
By: Derek Tanu (Eden Area YMCA)

On Sunday, the GA worked profusely to end all discussions about nuclear power and land minds.

May 2, 2010
By: Mai Blia Thao (GSY – Visalia YMCA) and Leah Herkert (Crescenta-Canada YMCA)

On May 1, 2010, ambassaders ,advisors, and staff members  attended the international ball also known as the dance. The dance was  held at academy 2 and 3 from 9:00pm to 10:00pm. The dance was also followed with some activities such as dance freeze, the rules for dance freeze was when a song comes on you have to dance and when the song stops you stop dancing.  The most fun thing was doing the jerk.

May 2, 2010
By: Taj Williams and Emma Hmelar
Non-Governmental Organizations works on refugees and their camps. Yesterday, they worked on creating refugee camps. They had to find  necessities to make the camp such as water, warmth and other resources that were nearest to them. Today N.G.O spoke about the hunger crisis in Africa and how Africa uses potatoes to end loss of food for a while. Two of their people went to type up proposals while the rest of the group did recreational activities in their spare time, then the two delegates from  N.G.O  came back with the …

Date: May 2, 2010
Nic Wainwright (SPPY)
Dr. Karin Proidl, the Consul General of Austria, attended the International Ball last night in Academy One with the SPPY delegation.
Dr. Karin Proidl was born in Austria and moved to the U.S. in the early 90’s. From 1994 to 1999 she was stationed in the New York UN building. She then cycled back to Austria and  came to California in November of 2009.
When at our table, Dr. Proidl seemed very interested in all of us and MUN. She asked us many questions, and we asked …

Date: May 2, 2010
Name: Riley Goldsholl (BBC news)
When you participate in general assembly you talk a lot. I sat in for one session and I wanted to share what I saw.
1. They debate a lot
2. They talk about resolutions or agreements. When they made a motion they would raise their plaquers instead of saying I or Nay.
3. They speak about vaccinations for swine flu and malaria.
4. They discuss the world and all the problems that come with it.
5. All the ammbasodors have two minutes to speak on how they felt about the situation.
Even …

As the 9th Model United Nations Summit draws to a close, I would like to recognize the fantastic work accomplished by the Press Corps. Each day the reporters would work diligently and efficiently in order to write at least one post.  The Press conducted five press conferences and posted numerous articles on the MUN blog.  We learned new things such as how to use Word Press, CMS coding and the Flip Cameras.  Even though it was difficult to post sometimes, the Press Corps is such a fun organization.  Because this is a small group, one …

Date: May1,2010
By: Leah Herkert and Riley Goldsholl (BBC news)
Do you feel nauseous when you step in an elevator?. When we told the secretary general what our story is about she said,” Wow, great topic! I love that, elevators!” Most people we interviewed had very creative answers. For example, Alyssa S. age:13 from CCY said “If i were stuck in an elevator my first reaction would be to call Disneyland and tell them they have a new ride.” Another answer person named Edward Chen said “The elevators at the hotel don’t have mirrors and …

May 1, 2010
Written By: Emma Hmelar (Palo Alto YMCA)

In GA6 yesterday they were discussing UN reform.  Kathryn Li of Saudi Arabia said “We want all countries to have the same voice because the western world is dominating.” She voted for reforming the UN. Some ideas they were discussing are: Problems of Earth, dividing  campains of financial resources more evenly, Problems of UN and fixing them, stop terrorism, internet security and UN Reform.

May 1, 2010
Written By: Connor Madalo (Southwest/Riverside YMCA)
Ambassadors  have had several breakfasts at the Model United Nations Summit that have been great, but which one is the best? A lot of the delegates have different opinions. Esteban Cabrera from Ukraine says, “My favorite breakfast so far is the breakfast burrito.”  Taj Williams from the United States of America agrees,” The burritos are my favorite.” While some ambassadors agree on their favorites, many have other ideas. I loved the  oatmeal!” Ezabel Martinez from Kenya says.” Devynne Flowers from Ireland says,” Bacon is definitely …

May 1, 2010
By: Abigail Mitchell (South Pasadena YMCA)
ECOSOC voted to ban Websites that are against a country’s ideas on Friday.
Turkey created this idea and Iraq agreed.  For example, one website that was banned in Turkey was richaddawkins.net. William Gingold of Iraq gave a better explanation of the idea.
“We should band Websites that are against our countries, so that no one would rebel,” Gingold said.
Jacob Tuffs, representing Turkey, believes this will have its benefits. “This is good, but it doesn’t allow people to fully express themselves.”

May 1, 2010
By: Elizabeth Essex-Sullivan (Torrance/South Bay YMCA) Interfax
Today I went to observe the NGO group of water and sanitation.  A twelve year old girl named Kelsey Korn, who is part of the Triunfo YMCA delegation, told me about the going on’s of their meeting. “We wrote a proposal and then we took it over to OCHA in the Glendale room. Half of us are in the computer lab researching. The other half of us are in here thinking of ideas.” I stayed for a little longer after I finished talking to Kelsey and another …

Date: Friday, April 30, 2010
Written By: Mai Blia Thao (GSY – Visalia YMCA)
General Assembly Sunset Academy 4 talks about how their countries feel about the topic of deforrestation. Israel believes that certain species should be eliminated. Japan states that burning forrests was wasted  70% of areas. In comparison, only 33% of the united states is forested although it may be comparing apples and oranges.  GA4  brainstorms with groups finding a resolution(s). Japan exports deforestation, by importing the massive amount of wood from other countries. One hundred years of rampant harvesting, the forrests   Japan starts …

May 1, 2010
By: Abigail Mitchell (South Pasadena YMCA)
Video By:Derek Tanu (Eden Area YMCA)
The MUNkey Olympics was a very exciting event. The first place winners were the Ligers in overall points. The Ligers are  also known as GSY. The person who got them to first place overall, is third place winner of the day,, Mai Blia Thao. “I am really proud that I got third place and my delegation is proud of me too.” She likes third place, but likes first place more. “I would like to get first place for …

May 1, 2010
By: Madeline Chen (Northwest SCV)
The health NGO are finishing their proposals to present to OCHA. They first received their topics at Camp Roberts, and took notes and learned more about the problem during the period before the Summit. Once they reunited again, they started to write about their proposals.
The health committee is going last, which they are thankful for. “We haven’t quite finished the proposal yet”, said Bhavna Thakir, a 12 year old ambassador from the delegation Northwest SCV, “we’re doing well though”. They have two groups, one …

Date: Saturday, May 1, 2010
Written By: Ashley Dahlen (Santa Barbara Family YMCA) and Kendra Legge (GSY – Woodlake YMCA)

Myself and Kendra Legge sat down and talked with several ambassadors about memories of MUN. The first person we sat down with was Elizabeth Sullivan from Torrence/ South Bay, the best memory she had so far is, “meeting the new people and the fun activities,” she quotes. She is going to miss all new people she has met. The next person we sat down with was Maddie Chen from North West  SCV, her best memory is …