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 …

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: 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.

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: 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: 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)
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 …

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 …

May 1, 2010
By: Jenna Senger (Saddleback YMCA)
Morning Inspirational is a fun way to start anyone’s day. Just in case you don’t know what Morning Inspiration is, it’s a gathering held in the morning at 7:15 in Academy 1. Morning inspiration involves singing and talking about the word of the day and telling and acting out skits about how that word is interpreted. “It is very uplifting and it wakes me up in the morning,” says Lauren Peeters of the CIA delegation. Steve, the very enthusiastic Inspiration leader, always brings his guitar …