Mencía Ponce is a chair of the Dissarment committee for BCNMUN 2023. She was born in Madrid and has spent most of her life abroad, but now resides in Barcelona for time being. She is currently a junior and is attending her third year at the American School of Barcelona. She started participating in Model UN conferences in 9th grade. Throughout her MUN experience, Mencia has attended a total of six conferences all around the world both online and in person, including THIMUN, BIMUN, BCNMUN, BFMUN, and HNMUN. Model UN has helped her develop key abilities such as communication skills, leadership, public speaking, and gaining global awareness on current events. Conferences have provoked her interest towards humanitarian issues and the importance of collaborative efforts amongst those in her community, hence her involvement in RefugeArt, Service Learning, and MUN. Needless to say, she has met very diverse people and made great friends throughout the experience that MUN has provided, and encourages other delegates to do the same.
Slavyan Teofilov is one of the chairs for the DISC committee. He was born in Sofia into a Bulgarian family and moved to Barcelona when he was 5. This is his 10th year at the American School of Barcelona and he is currently in 10th grade. During 9th grade, he participated in various conferences as a delegate, such as BCNMUN, THIMUN and BFISMUN. He joined MUN when he first got the opportunity to, in 8th grade although it was just for a quarter of the year. Through MUN, Slavyan has developed his skills in public speaking and problem-solving. It has also given him more discipline, self confidence and has helped him expand his knowledge on current events. MUN has always been very interesting to Slavyan as it brought a light to things he otherwise would have never thought would interest him. Throughout the 10 years he has spent at ASB so far, he has helped many members of the community through being a part of the student council, class president and representative speaker. He hopes to do the same thing by being a chair at BCNMUN 2023. For him, MUN has brought many new friends, memories and experiences. He looks forward to helping others do this too.
Chiara Schuster is a chair for Disarmament in BCNMUN 2023. She was born in Belgium, is Maltese-German, and has lived in Barcelona her entire life. She joined Model UN in 8th grade and is currently an 11th grader at the American School of Barcelona. She has taken part of conferences as a delegate, an admin and is now looking forward to chairing her committee in the upcoming conference. So far, she has participated in seven conferences, some of them virtually. Amongst others, the highlights of her MUN experience include trips abroad such as to THIMUN, IMUN and also local ones like BIMUN and our own BCNMUN. Chiara believes that it is thanks to MUN that she has sparked an interest for Law and, more specifically, European or International Law. Other extracurriculars that she has been involved in include Student Council, Healing Humanity, Speech and Debate, and basketball. Aside from her love for debating, she always enjoys being in a largely international as well as intellectual setting and being able to make connections with new people. As far as she believes, being a part of MUN and helping in social conflict is critical, and a skill with which a future wouldn't exist in its absence. During this year’s BCNMUN, she hopes that DISC is a space for new delegates in addition to experienced ones to engage in a controversial yet dynamic debate. Chiara has formed long-lasting friendships thought her experience as a delegate thanks to MUN, and hopes to create an environment where other delegates can too.