Graded's Brazilian Model United Nations (MUN) Leaders

This weekend, 5 Graded students flew to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Brazil Model United Nations (BRAMUN) Chair Training. Since BRAMUN is an entirely student-led conference, they met with other leaders from schools all over Brazil to plan and organise the event, which will take place in March 12th-15th.

Luiza Gundim - Secretary General

Maria Clara Bezerra - Political Committee Chair

Stephanie Prufer - Human Rights Chair

Pooja Singhi - Security Council Vice-Chair

Daniel Almeida - Special Committee Vice-Chair

Sandra Stoneman - Advisor

Graded MUN: "there is no winning, there is no losing--the only people losing are the ones who don't try."

Last Saturday, over 80 Graded students came to school to debate world issues and gain more public speaking experience in the third edition of Graded Model United Nations. This year, a system of mentors was established so that experienced MUNers were encouraged to help the new delegates. Our motto was "there is no winning, there is no losing--the only people losing are the ones who don't try." The entire conference, from choosing topics to ordering snacks, was organized and led by Graded students and it was a great success. Our delegates are now ready to start preparing for upcoming conferences, such as SPMUN, which will happen next month.

Secretary General: Luiza Gundim

Chairs: Stephanie Prufer, Maria Clara Bezerra, Daniel Almeida, and Pooja Singhi

Vice-Chairs: Alan Garcia-Ramos and Aron Chi

Chief Information Officer: Paula Soares

Secretariat: Luiza Sayão, Vaughn Gardner, Hyo Sang Kil, and Rina Fujikawa

Advisors: Ms. Stoneman, Ms. Baumgarten, Ms. Janewicz and Mr. Collins

The BRAMUN Experience

My MUN experience was incredible. I had heard great things about the BRAMUN conference, and being the first time that I attended, I can say that my experience surpassed the expectations I had. The hotel is beautiful, the conference was planned out really well and everyone seemed to have fun. In addition, I felt that there was a perfect balance between the amounts of committee and free time, allowing us to enjoy the most out of the trip. Plus, Graded as a school performed fantastically at the conference, and the advisers were always there to support us if needed. All in all, I am very glad I chose to go to on this trip and look forward to returning next year! by Brian Wolfson

Yale MUN Trip: Update #2

Before getting down to work at the conference the MUN team enjoyed New York and the Yale campus. The highlights included?

• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Tour of Columbia University
• Broadway Show Wicked
• Tour of Ground Zero and the new Freedom Tower
• Dinner at a Nicaraguan Restaurant
• Yale Days - Introduction to life at Yale

Update from the Yale MUN Students

Our Yale Model United Nations (MUN) group is spending the first half of their trip visiting New York City. So far they've been ice skating in Central Park, shopping on 5th Avenue, watching the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets play, and toured the UN. Today they were scheduled to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, tour Columbia University or the Paley Media Center and watch the Broadway show Wicked. 

Sounds like a fantastic lead up to the actual conference that begins at the end of the week.