MODEL UNITED NATIONS
WHAT IS MUN ?
Model United Nations (MUN) is a civic engagement program for middle / high school students in the County of Los Angeles. Acting as delegates from the United Nations (UN) member states, students participate in and recreate UN meetings at conferences throughout the country to discuss a wide variety of past and current global issues. Students must conduct research in preparation for these conferences and prepare speeches to present to their committees.
MUN programs are usually implemented as a class or extra curricular club and are most often found in affluent suburban high schools. Urban schools in low-income areas, however, often lack the resources to run this sort of program. We, at KAC, implemented this program as a community-based club with some additions to the program design.
Application deadline is August of each year and the MUN program runs from September to May.
Middle and high school students entering grades 8-11 (12th grade students are only eligible to apply if they are returning students).
• The KAC MUN is the longest consecutive running program in the Korean American community.
• Participants will see improvements in public speaking, writing, critical analysis skills, and leadership skills.
• Previous KAC MUN seniors were accepted into Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Amherst, Boston University, Duke, Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, and UCLA.
Model United Nations (MUN) is intended to give inner-city youth insight into the world at large, while honing their leadership skills, all in an effort to engage students in a critical reflection of the global and local issues affecting their communities today. Acting as delegates from the United Nations (UN) member states, students participate in simulated UN conferences in committees that discuss topics ranging from North Korea’s nuclear program to providing children in developing nations with access to healthcare and education.
MUN meetings are 3 hour sessions held once a week at the KAC office. MUN is intended to give inner-city youth insight into the world at large – geopolitics, international relations, and national and international politics – while polishing everyday skills, all in an effort to engage students in a critical reflection of not only global but local issues.
The Korean American Coalition has a long history of leadership training: the National College Leadership Conference, which is the longest continuously running college leadership conference in the country and the KAC Summer College Internship Program which provides highly qualified college students with summer internships to gain experience in their fields of interest. The MUN program, not offered at any area high schools, is thereby designed as an ambitious leadership training program for local high school students.
To learn more, please visit the MUN 2020-2021 page.