Canterbury has one of its best teams ever
Which high schools have the best Model UN team in North America? We devised a rankings system that answers this question in order to recognize the top teams on the circuit for their accomplishments.
Please read the methodology article first before jumping into the rankings. We clarify in the article our purpose for doing rankings, our philosophy that drives what we value in the rankings, and our methodology.
With that said, here are the top 11-15 Model UN teams in North America! Some of these teams are large delegations that did well at one conference while others are small delegations that consistently won at several conferences. Either way, all these teams have gotten off to a strong start this Fall.
Fall 2011 High School Model UN Rankings: North America Top 11-15
11. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (New Jersey)
SouthMUN, as the team calls itself, got off to a strong start this Fall and is currently the highest-ranked team that has yet to win a delegation award. The team was very close to a delegation award at Princeton PMUNC and the competitiveness of that conference should serve the team well as it moves on to an even more challenging slate of conferences in the winter/spring. Similar to its sister school West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, SouthMUN will be defending two delegation awards at U.Penn ILMUNC and Georgetown NAIMUN before heading to the United Nations to participate at Nationals NHSMUN. The team is advised by Brad Borsuk and Erin Schomburg.
12. Thomas Jefferson High School of Science & Technology (Virginia)
TJ traditionally sets its schedule to feature two national-level conferences and two local conferences. The team went back to William & Mary WMHSMUN again this year for one of their national-level conferences and captured the Outstanding Large Delegation award. The team’s other national-level conference will be U.Penn ILMUNC and its two local conferences are CD Hylton PWMUN and Chantilly CHMUN. TJ ends its season by hosting its own conference, TECHMUN. The team is advised by Alexandra Pou.
13. Canterbury School (Florida)
Canterbury may have its best team ever and perhaps even better than its team that won a delegation award at Harvard HMUN last year. That’s based on the team’s own evaluation of their performances so far — the team captured Best Delegation at University of Central Florida’s KnightMUN and saw 10 of their 13 delegates win awards at Brown BUSUN including five gavels (BUSUN doesn’t give out delegation awards but this result probably would’ve equated to a small delegation award at most conferences). The team’s balanced strength of delegates should serve it well as it competes for more small delegation awards. Canterbury is advised by Evan Crawford.
14. Laguna Hills High School (California)
Laguna Hills breaks into the top 25 after winning the Best Large Delegation award at UCLA BruinMUN and winning awards at the even larger Tustin THSMUN. While this club program will not be traveling nationally this year, it will be attending a solid lineup of California conferences including Berkeley BMUN, UC Irvine’s UCIMUN, Mission Viejo MVHSMUN, El Toro ETHSMUN, and the Capistrano Valley CVHSMUN novice conference. The team will also host its own conference, LHHSMUN. Laguna Hills is advised by Carri Geiger.
15. Santa Margarita Catholic High School (California)
Santa Margarita is the most prolific Model UN team in the world when it comes to attending conferences. The team will attend a total of 17 conferences this year — students are required to go to a minimum of four or five a year depending on their grade level — with the highlights being Paris PAMUN and Royal Russell RRSMUN in London in the Fall and Beijing BEIMUN in the Spring (all are THIMUN-affiliated conferences). Domestically, Santa Margarita already won a Best Medium-Sized Delegation award at Edison EHSMUN and awards at Brown BUSUN and Tustin THSMUN to break into the top 25. It won’t fly across country to Duke this year as it is opting to attend UCSB’s GauchoMUN closer to home, and its California lineup also includes Berkeley BMUN, UC Irvine UCIMUN, Mission Viejo MVHSMUN, Huntington Beach’s Surf City MUN, Laguna Hills LHHSMUN, El Toro ETHSMUN, and four novice conferences: Mira Costa LAIMUN, Huntington Beach Novice, Edison Novice, and Capistrano Valley CVHSMUN. In addition, the team hosted the largest novice conference in the world, SOCOMUN. Santa Margarita is advised by John Remmell.
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Check out the top 16-25!
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Congrats to all the teams! Keep in mind that this ranking is intended to measure competitive success during this Fall only. Many teams have not had the chance to participate at multiple conferences, at a large conference, or even at a single conference yet and there are many conferences to come. Good luck with your preparations and enjoy winter break!
