In the past few years, Academic Decathlon has been an after school club. This year, our Academic Decathlon team did exceptionally well at their competitions. Nine students competed on February 1, all receiving a medal in their individual competitions and the team placed 5th in the Super Quiz.

MUN, the class soon to be combined with Academic Decathlon, stimulates and challenges the students academic and teamwork skills. In MUN, students role play as delegates of the United Nations.

“They research and role play as different countries, and work together to reach solutions to solve some of the biggest problems,” says John Baker, teacher and Academic Decathlon adviser at SJHHS. Baker plans on piloting the new MUN program next year.

The students will meet with other students at the competition and work together to help decide what they envision will solve the problems of the world. In addition to learning about how the United Nations work, students will also work in team focus groups, participate in debates, and exercise public speaking skills.

“There’s a lot of students on campus who aren’t involved in sports, so this is a way for them to have that team experience,” says Baker.

Evan Morgan (11) is currently involved in Academic Decathlon. At the last competition, he received more than four medals in multiple categories.

“[I’m] really interested in current events and world politics and I think the relationships between countries as represented by the united nations is really interesting,” says Morgan.

So who can join this class? Anyone with a will to learn. Both events require a knowledge and interest of current events. For Academic Decathlon, you must know your study guide, and for MUN, you have to know the country you’re researching.

Shivani Narang, senior at Mission Viejo High School has been apart of MUN for four years.

“MUN has been the reason I can talk comfortably in front of a group of people today- it gives you confidence and knowledge that is unmatched by any other normal class at high school,” says Narang.
Narang has won six MUN awards, including one where she was selected to speak in front of a couple hundred delegates at the Regional High School MUN in 2012.

The class will be offered as an elective, either as a zero or a seventh period. “This class looks amazing on college applications,” says Baker. “There are not many academic extracurricular opportunities, and this is one of those.”