Annual Trojan MUN conference to be largest, most competitive

As a student organization focused on debate and discussion, USC’s Model United Nations of Southern California annually hosts and plans TrojanMUN, a competitive conference that brings together universities to engage in simulated political delegation and strategies. This year’s event, which takes place in downtown Los Angeles, will be the largest yet, bringing approximately 330 to 350 delegates from California universities like UCLA and UC Berkeley. This will also be the first year East Coast schools like West Point Academy will attend.

“It is one of the only West Coast conferences in the fall, and aside from it being ranked the best [West Coast conference], it is one of the only very competitive ones,” said Sarahi Juarez, MUNSC’s director of external relations. “This is the first conference that brings in intense competition, especially because the UCs who come to our conference have just started school.”

Since its conception four years ago, Juarez said the conference has grown through the efforts of MUNSC and the connections the team has built locally and at East Coast tournaments. The MUNSC team members travels to local and national conferences to improve their critical thinking, writing, networking and diplomacy skills, debating issues on the international community. The unique committees and staff have shaped TrojanMUN’s success, earning it recognition as the Best Fall Conference on the West Coast, Juarez said.

“It’s pretty amazing that [the TrojanMUN conference] worked that first year,” said Director of Internal Relations Alexander Melnik, who is also a four-year member of MUNSC. “It was the personal efforts of a small group of people, but those people were very hardworking and [made] an initial large investment.”

Melnik explained that planning a conference is more than simply inviting schools to attend; it includes creating an agenda and preparing the logistics, such as securing a venue, paying fees and getting insurance for the event.

“Because [our team was] willing to take on that responsibility, we got the conference to work and had schools like Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley and Washington University [in St. Louis],” Melnik said.

While the nonprofit organization holds weekly TrojanMUN meetings dedicated to continuing its summer work of preparations, edits, writings and detailed simulations, its main meetings are the three-hour sessions on Fridays. Here, the organization focuses on training members to travel as delegates to conferences.

“We have new members, so we’re training them as delegates, and as staff for conferences in the future; once we’re getting closer to a conference and have their positions, we will dedicate a lot of time specifically to developing skills needed for that conference,” said Zoie Petrakis, the former MUNSC Secretary General. “We do our own simulations [as well]; that is a good way for us to practice as delegates but also for potential committees that we might run.”

Members are also preparing to head to the East Coast for conferences at the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University in the coming months. The group will send an unprecedented total of 12 members — six in October and six in November — to these conferences.

Due to increased interest in the organization, the application has become more competitive, with a one in five acceptance rate. However, this growth has also allowed for more opportunities for members, like workshops to help students learn the logistics of running a sustainable, long-term nonprofit.

According to Petrakis, professors from the International Relations Department will speak to MUNSC students thanks to a new partnership.

The MUNSC leadership credits the growth of the organization mainly to its dedicated members who care about building the group. In addition to growth in membership and competitiveness, MUNSC also diversified its committees by recently adding ad hoc.