Gunn High School is one of several new teams to break into the top 25
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 16-25 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 16-25
16. Princeton High School (New Jersey)
Princeton High School enters into the top 25 rankings after winning an Outstanding Large Delegation award at Virginia VAMUN and awards at Princeton PMUNC. The team has been very proud of its performances so far and especially so for its ability to hold its own against the top teams in New Jersey at PMUNC. The team will travel next to Columbia CMUNCE to defend their small delegation award from last year.
17. East Brunswick High School (New Jersey)
East Brunswick successfully repeated its Outstanding Large Delegation at Rutgers RUMUN this year and that enabled it to maintain a spot in our rankings. However, the team is just getting started as the meat of their schedule is in the February-March timeframe and the team could be ranked much higher by the end of the school year if they put in similar performances to what they did at RUMUN. East Brunswick is highly respected by hosting universities and has been assigned a P5 nation at their next three conferences: Johns Hopkins JHUMUNC, Georgetown NAIMUN, and Nationals NHSMUN. The team performed particularly well at NHSMUN last year and received a delegation award there. East Brunswick is advised by Mr. Brodman.
18. Gunn High School (California)
The upstart Gunn team is only in its third year of existence but it already has lofty expectations for itself after winning a pair of small delegation awards at Georgetown NAIMUN and Berkeley BMUN last year. Gunn started its year at full strength at Stanford SMUNC — its hometown conference — and won the Best Large Delegation. It also faced off against tough competition from the established Southern California powerhouses at Regionals RHSMUN. Gunn will be back on the circuit this year to defend their small delegation awards at NAIMUN and BMUN, and the team will be participating at UC Davis’ DavisMUN as well. Gunn is advised by Faith Hilal.
19. League of Creative Minds (California)
LCM is one of two independent teams to break into our top 25 this Fall. This after school program draws high school and middle school delegates from different schools in the San Francisco Bay Area to form a Model UN travel team. The team is often able to win against high school teams that are on average older than them — LCM already won a Best Small Delegation at William & Mary WMHSMUN as well as awards at Stanford SMUNC and Princeton PMUNC. The team tends to attend smaller conferences with quality academic debate and will be traveling to Michigan UMMUN, Vancouver VMUN, MIT’s MITMUNC, Dartmouth DartMUN, and a conference in Rome, Italy, before hosting their inaugural conference in April. LCM is advised by Simon Olavarria and Catarina Williams.
20. Oceanside High School (New York)
Oceanside stays in the rankings after a strong enough of a performance at Princeton PMUNC to outrank several teams that have won delegation awards already this year. The team will be competing at Harvard HMUN next and another solid performance there could boost this team’s profile up. Oceanside is advised by Josh Hickey.
21. Highland Park High School (Illinois)
Highland Park is consistently successful at Chicago CIMUN and this year the team placed third at that conference. That result helped keep Highland Park in the rankings despite a late start to the season since there aren’t many Fall conferences in the Midwest. We’re not sure what the team’s schedule looks like but we do know they regularly attend NHSMUN.
22. La Vernia High School (Texas)
La Vernia High School enters into the top 25 after winning Best Large Delegation at its hometown conference, San Antonio MUNSA. That makes it one of the top teams in Texas at the moment. The Texas circuit has been growing rapidly and we’ll be looking to see where La Vernia attends next.
23. Strada (Texas)
Strada is another independent team to break into our top 25 this Fall. The team is made up of all home-schooled students in Texas and word about this team has gotten out in the Texas circuit once they started the season with a Best Large Delegation at Baylor BUMUN and followed it up with a Best Small Delegation at San Antonio MUNSA. The team will continue to travel the Texas and Oklahoma circuit and participate at conferences such as the University of Texas at Austin’s CTMUN, Houston Area HAMUN, and MUN Southwest in Oklahoma. Strada is advised by Charlotte Ray.
24. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North (New Jersey)
Similar to Oceanside, WWP-North maintains a spot in the top 25 with a solid performance at Princeton PMUNC. Like many teams from New Jersey, the conference schedule will ramp up significantly in the winter. WWP-North will defend its large delegation awards at U.Penn ILMUNC and at Johns Hopkins JHUMUNC and then head over to the United Nations headquarters for NHSMUN Nationals. The team almost has an identical schedule to its sister school, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South — the only difference is that WWP-North will seek to defend its delegation award at JHUMUNC in February while WWP-South will compete at Georgetown NAIMUN.
25. The McCallie School (Tennessee)
The McCallie School seems to be pleasantly surprised with the recognition it has attained this year so far for its Model UN program. The team won Best Delegation at Vanderbilt VUMUN and had another impressive showing at Southeast High School SHSMUN. We’re not sure which other conferences McCallie will attend as a school but we do know that several McCallie delegates will be participating in a Southeast regional team of all-stars at Nationals NHSMUN. McCallie is advised by Nancy Green.
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Next Five:
- California High School (California)
- Stonewall Jackson High School (Virginia)
- Toronto French School (Ontario, Canada)
- Roosevelt High School (Texas)
- North Carolina High School for Science & Math (North Carolina)
Also, we wanted to note that there are occasionally teams from outside of North America that do well at the North American conferences. One of them is the Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) from Singapore which won an Outstanding Small Delegation at Princeton PMUNC.
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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!
