Cabinet & Secretariat
Hi! I’m Soli Nickerson, one of your co-presidents. I am so excited to work with all of you this year to make Model UN the best it can be. I am a senior, but I’ve been a part of MUN since I was a freshman, and my love for the activity has only grown. Feel free to call on me anytime you have questions about anything remotely related to MUN. I’d be so happy to help. I’ll be running the meetings for the year alongside my co-president, Taylor, and will be responsible for ensuring that all of you have a great time and become better delegates. Other than Model UN, I’m president of Mock Trial and Choir Club, a soprano in Vocal Jazz 1, and a participant in Poly’s wonderful musical theatre program. I also love to read and listen to music (ask me about the evolution of Folk Music!), play video games, and build botanical lego sets. We’re going to have such a wonderful year, and I am so excited to support you all. Go Jackrabbits!
Soli Nickerson
Co-President
Taylor Chay
Co-President
Hi! My name is Taylor Chay, and I am thrilled to be serving as one of your Co-Presidents for the 2025-2026 school year! I attended my first conference in eighth grade (the one and only BunnyMUN), and have since never looked back. Now, I am a junior at Poly, and through Model UN, I have gained more knowledge about our world, grown in confidence, and built cherished friendships. Hence, I am honored to help lead a club that has done so much for me! As Co-President with Soli, we are responsible for running meetings and representing our club. But at the end of the day, our top priority is supporting our members. Besides MUN, I am Co-President of our school’s UNICEF club and Co-Editor-in-Chief of our school’s newspaper! Outside of school, I love to travel (a few of my dream destinations are Peru, Iceland, and Morocco)! I also love writing, baking, and listening to music. I’m so excited for another great year!
Hello, my name is Sophie Nishikawa and I’m so excited to serve as â…“ of Long Beach Poly MUN’s Secretaries General for the 2025-2026 school year! Although I’m currently a senior, I’ve been working for Poly’s MUN program since my freshman year, when I was a Jackrabbit MUN V rapporteur. Now as Secretary General, I am in charge of all of Jackrabbit MUN VIII from planning to the day of, and I will be one of your main points of contact for anything related to the conference. It’s been wonderful meeting people from quite literally all over the world through MUN and collaborating with them despite our differences in order to achieve a common goal. That aspect of MUN gives me an immense amount of hope for our world, and the belief that future generations have the grit and will to pursue good. At Poly I’m additionally the UNICEF Club President, Girl’s Tennis Varsity Captain, Chess Club Treasurer, and a member of both the Female Leadership Academy and Book Club. In my albeit limited free time, you might find me with my sketchbook or a novel (Slaughterhouse-Five has been quite an apt reread as of late) in any number of local coffee shops. In any case, you all have my best wishes as always, and I look forward to spending another year in MUN with everyone!
Sophie Nishikawa
Secretary General
Stuart Turnour
Secretary General
Hello, my name is Stuart and I am happy to be serving this year as â…“ of our Secretaries General! This is my senior year in high school, and second year in Model UN. I love the co-operation that comes with Model United Nations– it's amazing how many people we get to meet and work with. All of the different perspectives, from both individuals and the countries that they are representing, are extremely important to every Model United Nations committee, and as Secretary General, I intend to make this present throughout our program. Hopefully, through Jackrabbit MUN VIII and BunnyMUN IV, we can inspire more young people to do what they can to improve the areas around them! Outside of Model United Nations, I compete as captain of Boy’s Varsity Tennis and am president of the Poly Chess Club (don’t tell them but I spend more time on MUN). I also love world history, both ancient and modern, which will probably show through in our crisis committees. I look forward to my final year in Model UN!
Hi, my name is Will Weaver, and I am one-third of your Secretaries General for the 2025-26 school year. I am a senior at Long Beach Poly High School, and I have been involved in MUN since my freshman year. As Secretaries General, we are responsible for everything regarding the conferences we host here at Poly– Jackrabbit MUN VIII and Bunny MUN IV. I have loved being a part of MUN and attending conferences, especially as a crisis delegate, but being a crisis lead and helping to organize conferences from behind the scenes has proven the most enjoyable to me. I really enjoy watching rooms come to life with good debate, collaboration, and engaging plotlines (for Jackrabbit’s renowned crisis committees). Outside of MUN, I love science and music! I am one of the drum majors of Poly’s Marching Band and lead alto in jazz band, but I like to volunteer with the Jazz Angels and practice other instruments on my own time as well. I am also the president of Poly PACE club, and participate in Poly’s biomedical research program, in addition to various other clubs here as well. In my free time I like to study animals (especially birds), reread my favorite Patricia Highsmith novels, write my own stories, and do digital art. Thank you so much, and I’m looking forward to another great year in MUN!
Will Weaver
Secretary General
Abigail Hall
Director General
Hello! My name is Abigail Hall and I am JackrabbitMUN’s 2025-2026 Director General. I’m currently a junior, but I’ve loved MUN since my very first middle school room at Jackrabbit MUN V. Our MUN program has always held a special place in my heart, not only for the insights I’ve gained about the forces that shape our world, but also for its supportive and passionate community. Given that, I hope our conferences empower you to find your voice and embrace collaboration as you work together to solve society’s problems. As Director General, I handle most of our program’s outside communications with delegates and advisors - if you’re a delegate, you may already be familiar with me from my emails. At Poly, I play on the Girls’ Varsity Golf team, and am co-president of Poly’s Moot Court Club. Outside of school, I love to make art and read, particularly books about anthropology and other social sciences (Sapiens anyone?). I wish you all the best, and I’m thrilled for another amazing year of MUN!
My name is Alaina Castillo, and I’m currently a junior in Long Beach Poly’s PACE pathway. I’m honored to serve as this year’s Vice President of Model United Nations. I’ve been fortunate to be part of Poly MUN since seventh grade and participated in the early development of Bunny MUN. Through Model UN, I’ve grown in public speaking, debate, confidence, listening, writing, and research. Outside of MUN, I serve as ASB’s Commissioner of Inclusion, founder and president of Jackrabbits for Equity, Inclusion & Change, vice president of Poly’s Best Buddies chapter, a member of LBUSD’s Superintendent's Student Advisory Committee, and a varsity cheerleader. Community is at the heart of everything I do, which is why MUN means so much to me. I’m grateful to be part of a team that values diverse perspectives and advocates for meaningful change.
Alaina Castillo
Vice President
Hi! My name is Soriya Chheang and I am your Under Secretary of General Assembly. I am a senior and have been in Model UN for three years. Throughout these three years I have grown much more confident in my speaking and communicating skills while learning about so many diverse countries. As your Under Secretary of General Assembly I will be overseeing our GA’s during each of our conferences. I look forward to working alongside many of you. Outside of Model UN, I am on the water polo and swim team here at Poly. You may also see me attending our football games and concerts throughout the year. Let’s make this another great year for Poly’s Model UN!
Soriya Chheang
Under Secretary of General Assembly
Hi! My name is Gabby Gales and I’m your Under-Secretary of Specialized Committees. I’m a junior and I’ve been in MUN for 3 years so far, and this is my first year as a part of the secretariat! Throughout my experience doing conferences I’ve had both ups and downs but at the end of the day, I get to meet new people, expand my knowledge of real world events, and improve my public speaking skills. I enjoy doing research and getting to discuss the things I find, so MUN was definitely a good choice for me! As Under Secretary of Specialized Committees this year, I’ll be overseeing all of the Specialized committees for the conferences we host as well as assisting the Secretary Generals. Aside from MUN, I’m also in UNICEF, Book Bunnies, the official Poly newspaper staff as Co-Editor in Chief, and I play for the Varsity Girls Golf team. Outside of school I do volunteer coaching alongside various other fundraisers and volunteer work opportunities through the nonprofits I’m a part of. In my free time I’m catching up on the newest episodes of my favorite shows or hanging out with my friends. I’m looking forward to making this year of MUN the best one yet!
Gabby Gales
Under Secretary of Specialized Committees
Don Tran
Co-Crisis Director
Hello! My name is Don Tran and for the duration of this conference I have the honor of being ½ of your Crisis Directors. I’m currently a PACE Junior here at Polytechnic High School and have been in MUN since my freshman year. I have expressly done crisis throughout all my years of MUN so I hope I can make this experience as enjoyable for you guys as it always is for me. Aside from MUN, at Poly I’m Vice President of UNICEF, a Lead in Robotics, Historian for Jreps, play varsity golf, do musical theater, and sing in both our chamber choir and vocal jazz group. In my spare time I love learning new instruments (I’m on guitar now), cooking, and reading. Model UN is such a great experience to explore world events and public speaking skills. The experience has really been eye opening, and whether you’ve been a delegate before or this is your first conference of many, I hope I can teach you how Crisis is a better committee than General Assembly.
Hello! I’m Eamon Overman, one of your two crisis directors for the 2025 - 2026 season. I’ve been doing crisis staff since my freshman year and have been participating in MUN conferences since my sophomore year. I am currently a junior in Poly PACE. MUN is a great environment to grow and practice public speaking, research, and debate skills, and of the possibilities in MUN I find crisis rooms to be the most fun and engaging. I am excited to try and continue that trend for the coming year. Outside of Model UN I’m the president and co-captain of the Robotics club at Poly and a runner on the cross country team. Outside of Poly I enjoy creative hobbies like woodworking and blacksmithing. I hope that in the coming year, I can show you that crisis is the best way to experience MUN, in the backroom or as a delegate.
Eamon Overman
Co-Crisis Director
Hi! I’m Annali Bojorquez and I am Poly Model UN’s parliamentarian this year. I am a junior and I’ve been involved in MUN since my freshman year. I love to play and watch soccer, I play at Poly and my favorite team is Barcelona. I love reading, baking, and watercoloring. Outside of MUN I am the vice-president of UNICEF (along with Don, our amazing crisis director) and President of California Students for Justice. My favorite book is the Picture of Dorian Gray, my favorite movie is Sixth Sense, and my favorite artist is Francisco Goya. If you have any questions about parliamentary procedure or how MUN works, don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to this coming year!
Annali Bojorquez
Parliamentarian
Hi, I’m Madeline Cahill! I am one of your secretaries and I am so excited for this year! I am a Junior and this is my third year in the club and fourth year doing MUN. Aside from Model United Nations, I am involved in Poly’s drama department, the EIC club, and book club. I attended my first conference in 8th grade and ever since have wanted to do as much of it as I could. Through my experiences with this club I have learned, and am still learning, so much about public speaking, research, and have made some incredible friends. I believe that MUN is such a great way to broaden your horizons and can’t wait to see what this year brings.
Madeline Cahill
Co-Secretary
Hi! I'm Zaheen Chowdhury, and I'm really excited to be one of your co-secretaries this year. I'm currently a junior, and have been part of MUN since the beginning of sophomore year. Through MUN, I have been able to improve my debating and research skills, and moreover my confidence. Alongside MUN, I am the president of SOS club, in which we send essential living supplies to people/groups in need, and the treasurer of Poly’s Math Team. I'm excited to help grow the club and play a part in all that's to come this upcoming year!
Zaheen Chowdury
Co-Secretary
Hi! My name is Ella Shelton-Frates, and I'm one of two treasurers for Poly’s Model UN club! I’m a senior who's been in MUN for two years, and attended multiple conferences that allowed me to explore all that MUN has to offer. Outside of MUN, I enjoy taking walks, reading, playing tennis, and writing! I'm also involved in several other activities at school, including as a member of Poly’s girls varsity tennis team! I’m also the Vice-Chair of Metro Youth Council as well as a member of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. Being an active member of MUN, as well as being enrolled in the class, has given me the opportunity to strengthen my speaking skills and become more confident in my research and debate abilities. I’m so grateful to be on the MUN cabinet and look forward to another great year of Poly MUN!
Ella Shelton-Frates
Co-Treasurer
Kieran Lundy
Co-Treasurer
Hey! I’m Kieran Lundy, and I am one of Poly Model UN’s treasurers this year. As a sophomore, I’ve been an active member of the club for two years now and have done MUN for three! Our program here at Poly has helped me grow tremendously over that period of time, and I’m honored to say that I’ve found my voice, expanded my worldview, and made some great friends through it. I’m also a co-founder of DECA, co-president of Pickleball Club, and a midfielder for Poly’s Varsity Lacrosse team. In my spare time, I write poetry, read (Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman is certainly among my top picks), study old antitrust law cases and listen to everything from Led Zeppelin to Neil Young. I’m also really passionate about travel and staying active! I look forward to yet another successful year of MUN!
Hi! My name is Sheila Villalobos, and I am one of your co-commissioners of outreach. I am a senior, and this is my second year in Poly’s Model UN. I am also a part of Poly’s chamber orchestra and serve as president of HOSA. Outside of school, I love music, traveling, and photography! Joining Model UN has strengthened my ability to use my voice, speak with confidence, and build valuable skills in research and writing. I’m excited to serve in this position because I want to share Model UN’s mission with others and help them discover the same growth and opportunities I’ve experienced. This will be an amazing year! Go Jackrabbits!
Sheila Villalobos
Co-Commissioner of Outreach
Julissa Pulido
Co-Commissioner of Outreach
Hi! I am Julissa Pulido, I will be serving as one of your co-commissioners of outreach. I’m currently a PACE Junior and I will be finishing up my first year in Model UN at Poly. I have positions in other on campus clubs, such as the President of Alcohol Youth Awareness, the French Club, Co-President of Moot Court, and Secretary of Speech and Debate. With all my passions of taking leadership positions, all stems from Model UN. I first joined Model UN as a club my sophomore year; scared, nervous, but excited. Later on, that nervousness turned into one of my longest life skills; communication, public speaking, and team leadership. I am truly grateful for what this program has offered me and gave many of my peers. I’m thrilled to be starting more of my journey with the club and serving as your commissioner of outreach!
Hello! My name is Nicole McCance and I am a Junior on your social media team!! This is my second year of MUN and I love it so much! As a freshman I was introduced to MUN through a really cool senior, but none of my friends were doing it, so I was hesitant to join. Now that I’ve experienced a variety of conferences it is safe to say that I have grown as a person so much in one year because of this club. I hope anyone who takes the time to read this bio learns over time how much of a family MUN can create, and a person it can shape.
Nicole McCance
Social Media Director
Mia Winkler
Social Media Director
Hi all! My name is Mia Winkler, and I am thrilled to be one of your Social Media Directors for 2025-2026! Over the past few years, Model UN has been a constant source of support, personal growth, and community for me as both a student and delegate. I’ve made amazing memories and meaningful connections through MUN, and I can’t wait to create even more over these next two years! Outside of MUN, I currently serve as Vice President of Poly’s Equity Inclusion and Change club and as President of the Kindness & Connection club. In my free time I sing, write songs, hangout with my cats and do anything crafty. I’m passionate about supporting others and building spaces where we can all grow together, so please don’t hesitate to reach out. Can’t wait to see what we accomplish this year!
Hi! My name is Ida Esdale and I’m one of the social media directors for Model UN at Polytechnic High School as a sophomore this year! As well as being in MUN I am also in UNICEF, symphonic winds, and am on the girls golf team. I love music, dance, and art. I am currently learning to play the acoustic guitar! Some of my favorite things to study are animals, especially oceanic ones, history, and film! I also love reading and philosophy, my favorite book (really hard to choose) is Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock! I hope we all have an amazing year in MUN here at Poly! Go Jackrabbits!!
Ida Esdale
Social Media Director
Hey! My name is Elan Martinez and this year, I’ll be one of your webmasters, working to keep our website clean and up to date! I have minor digital design and maintenance experience through making websites and online menus, and use these skills to create MUN’s website! I’m a senior this year, play on Poly's varsity water polo and swim team, and have played for 4 years. I’ve been a part Model UN for 2 years now, and have a couple conferences under my belt. The program has helped me hone my debate and speech skills, as well as given me so much insight on the world's current issues. I hope that this year will be fruitful and fulfilling to all of you, and go Jackrabbits!
Elan Martinez
Webmaster
Hi! My name is Sela Hacegaba and I’m currently a junior at Poly. As one of the webmasters, I help design and update the website for any upcoming conferences and events! This is my third year in MUN and I have since learned so much about the world and how collaboration can create peaceful solutions. It has been such a joy to explore new conferences and build friendships, and I am so grateful to be a part of such a welcoming and inspiring community. Outside of MUN, I participate in Poly's choir program and am also involved in several clubs on campus, like UNICEF and Garden Club. In my free time, I love to read, craft, travel, play piano, and spend time with family, friends, and my playful puppy! Looking forward to making more special memories this year!
Sela Hacegaba
Webmaster
Hi! My name is Sohl Vadecha, and I am one of your webmasters this year! I am currently a sophomore. I joined Model UN last year and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I am on the varsity basketball, track, and cross country teams here at Poly. I play piano and am in jazz band as well as being the treasurer of Pickleball club and secretary of Book Bunnies. I am also the president and founder of Long Beach Polys Athletic Leadership Committee. I love to read, listen to music, and be active! So excited for another great year of MUN and go Jackrabbits!