JCC Get Out of Mah Swamp!: Shrek’s Rebels

Hello Delegates!

Welcome to LAMUN XX! My name is Alexa Lauryn (she/her) and I’m honored and excited to serve as your Chair and to welcome you all to Get Out of Mah Swamp!: Shrek’s Rebels vs. the Kingdom of the Fairy Godmother, I truly can’t wait to see where you all take this committee, I’m sure they’ll be telling the tale throughout all of Far Far Away. I’m currently a fourth year here at UCLA majoring in Human Biology and Society, but my interests lie within and beyond STEM.  

Speaking of far far away, I was born and raised in Hawaiʻi, so I’m really familiar with learning about different cultures and exploring rich histories beyond those commonly taught in the American curriculum. Additionally, while the pandemic has hindered me from travel, my summers, for as long as I can remember, have been spent in Shanghai visiting friends and relatives (though I’m no stranger to experiences in other cities around China), so I’m quite familiar with varied socio-political views and how they affect international relations. I’ve also grown up speaking both Mandarin and Shanghainese, which really allows me to connect with people and places on an even deeper level. That all being said, I find that Model UN has always been a pretty safe constant wherever I’ve been, both in high school, where I participated for all four years, and here in college, where I’ve had the opportunity to continue to staff both BruinMUN and LAMUN (along with a conference—PacMUN—back home!). I love that MUN is inherently a setting in which you learn to interact with new people and try to find common ground, whether it be through diplomacy or getting to know people beyond their allocations. 

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to work with both our amazing Crisis Director, Kamran, our incredibly talented Coordinating Crisis Director, Michael, and with you all. Being able to interact with delegates and see where debate takes all of you is one of my favorite things about MUN (and I’m always a sucker for a good crisis update! I’m a crisis delegate + chair through and through). As we venture through the storybook, peeling back the layers of the Shrek Cinematic Universe, delegates will find themselves faced with a new threat to the swamp, the fate of the kingdom resting in the hands of those brave enough to take on the revered Fairy Godmother. Are you up for the challenge? Somebody once told me that this is gonna be an adventure to remember, but no matter what happens, you’re all All Stars in my book!

I wish you the best of luck,

Alexa Lauryn

Chair | Shrek’s Rebels | LAMUN XX

rebels@uclamun.org

Hello there!

In addition to my chair Alexa, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to LAMUN XX! My name is Kamran Sheriff (he/him), and I will be your Crisis Director for the Shrek Rebel’s side of our JCC this year. As such, please feel free to be as silly as you want within this committee. While I am normally a pretty sedated person, please do your best to have our side win the JCC this year so I don’t get any grief from my fellow senior staffers from the other side of the committee.

Some “fun” things about myself. I am a 4th year here at UCLA, and I am majoring in Political Science and minoring in Data Science Engineering. I originally hail from Claremont, a quaint little town roughly an hour and a half away from Los Angeles, which has been pretty convenient. Outside of school and boring extracurriculars, my interests include cooking and consuming copious amounts of food, reading, and playing video games far too much for my own good. My favorites include games like Street Fighter and Tekken, as well as story-driven games like the God of War series, so if you like any of those things and happen to be reading this, I’m sure that we’ll get along just fine.

When it comes to Model UN, I must confess that I did Speech and Debate in high school and only joined MUN my freshman year of college. Since joining Model UN however, I have had the wonderful opportunity to staff both our high school conference BruinMUN and LAMUN over every iteration since fall of 2021 and occasionally visit some conferences with our talented travel team. Last year, I was the Director-General for both conferences and this year I was unfortunately the Secretary-General of BruinMUN this year, so I’m looking forward to being a senior staffer and enjoying the committee side of things this time around. The 2 committees I have staffed at LAMUN my freshman and sophomore year were the furry Ad Hoc (if you know, you know) in the backroom and the Hindu Pandavas Committee as a chair, so if you were in either committee and want to say hi, go for it.

Back to the actual JCC, Shrek is a large, comedic universe filled with lots of great characters and lore for delegates to play around with during the weekend. I encourage you to take advantage of that and please be creative so that we all can walk away with a few shared tales ourselves. Good luck and I look forward to all of you in April!

Kamran Sheriff

Crisis Director | Shrek’s Rebels | LAMUN XX

rebels@uclamun.org

Dear Delegates,

My name is Michael Griffin (he/him) and I’m thrilled to be your Coordinating Crisis Director (CCD) for Get Out of Mah Swamp!: Shrek’s Rebels vs. the Kingdom of the Fairy Godmother! LAMUN’s JCCs are historically known for being uniquely fun and out-of-the box, and this will be no exception. I hope this committee not only engages and excites you, but leaves you with fond memories by the end of our conference.

I’m a third-year student at UCLA majoring in Biology and I’m from Marin County, CA. In addition to being an active member of Model UN, I am an undergraduate researcher in the department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, where I study the development and reproduction of bats. Additionally, I work in student government as part of the USAC Facilities Commission, where I serve as the Co-Director of Transportation Equity & Access committee (i.e. I’m a public transit nerd). I plan on going to medical school after I graduate, and my current specialty of interest is orthopedic surgery. In my free time, I enjoy curating Spotify playlists, playing guitar, and exploring Los Angeles with my friends.

This is my third year of MUN, having joined at the beginning of my freshman year at UCLA! I’ve had the privilege of staffing every conference we’ve hosted since then, including LAMUN and our annual fall high school conference, BruinMUN. This past fall, I served as the Under-Secretary-General of Crisis for BruinMUN, where I had the pleasure of overseeing our diverse and creative crisis committees.

The story of Shrek is one many are familiar with– one that subverts and challenges the norms of traditional fairy tales. I hope your ideas for this committee are just as unique and unconventional as the world it occurs in. I’m looking forward to seeing the direction in which you steer committee as the fate of Far Far Away hangs in the balance. Good luck delegates, and may the best side prevail!

Best Regards, 

Michael Griffin

Coordinating Crisis Director | Shrek’s Rebels & Fairy Godmother | LAMUN XX

rebels@uclamun.org & fairy@uclamun.org