Year after year, CRIA students bring Costa Rica’s spirit of peace and sustainability to MUN conferences worldwide.
For over a dozen years, students from Costa Rica International Academy (CRIA) have represented their school at the National Model United Nations (NMUN) in New York City — the world’s largest and most prestigious academic simulation of the United Nations.
Each year, thousands of delegates from schools and universities around the globe gather to debate pressing world issues, draft resolutions, and practice diplomacy in the same halls where international policy takes shape.
A Legacy of Leadership and Responsible Citizenship
CRIA’s Model United Nations program has become one of the school’s most respected academic traditions. Since its founding, it has embodied CRIA’s vision to educate globally minded citizens — young people who combine knowledge with character, leadership with humility, and global awareness with productive citizenship at home.
In 2026, CRIA’s delegation travels to New York following an exceptional achievement at the 2025 Costa Rica Model United Nations (CRIMUN), where the team was honored with awards for their diplomacy. The recognition reflects the students’ dedication to research, diplomacy, and the respectful exchange of ideas — hallmarks of the CRIA approach to civic learning.
Learning from the World, Appreciating Home
Each year, CRIA’s delegation may be assigned to represent a different member nation of the United Nations — sometimes far from Costa Rica’s borders or perspectives.
This role-play experience challenges students to understand the world through another country’s lens: its culture, challenges, and aspirations. By defending that nation’s positions with integrity and compassion, students learn the art of true diplomacy — seeing complexity, listening deeply, and respecting difference.
Ironically, it’s often through representing another country that students come to understand what makes Costa Rica unique and respected in global affairs.
They recognize the power of Costa Rica’s long-standing commitments: abolishing its army in favor of education and peace, pioneering renewable energy, protecting biodiversity, and promoting social progress through dialogue rather than conflict.
When CRIA students stand in UN chambers and hear the world acknowledge Costa Rica’s values as universal, they return home with a renewed sense of pride in being citizens and residents of a country that lives its values.
CRIA students participating in the NMUN closing session
inside the United Nations General Assembly Hall.
Connecting NMUN Topics to Costa Rica’s Global Leadership
Many of the 2026 NMUN committee topics align directly with Costa Rica’s own areas of leadership in sustainability, human rights, and peacebuilding.
🌎 UN Environment Assembly: Water and the Planetary Crisis
Topic: Effective and Inclusive Water Policy Solutions in the Context of the Triple Planetary Crisis
Costa Rica’s renewable energy model and strong record of environmental conservation provide valuable insight for global water policy. CRIA students often reference the nation’s integrated water-management practices and success in balancing economic growth with ecosystem protection.
👩🌾 Commission on the Status of Women: Gender and Climate
Topic: Addressing the Gendered Impacts of Climate Change
Building on Costa Rica’s initiatives for gender equity and education, CRIA delegates explore how empowering women in rural and coastal communities strengthens resilience and leadership in environmental decision-making.
🕊 Peacebuilding Commission: Youth as Agents of Peace
Topic: Empowering Youth as Agents of Peace
As a country without an army since 1949, Costa Rica exemplifies how peace can be sustained through education, civic participation, and social investment. CRIA delegates advocate for these same principles in their committee debates.
💡 UN Development Programme: Reducing Poverty to Achieve the 2030 Agenda
Topic: Reducing Poverty to Accelerate Efforts toward the 2030 Agenda
Costa Rica’s balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability offers a model for inclusive progress — lessons that CRIA students proudly share on the NMUN floor.
Cultivating Citizenship and Global Understanding
Through school-based training sessions, mock conferences, and regional events, CRIA’s MUN students gain more than an understanding of international policy — they develop empathy, confidence, and a sense of civic responsibility.
They learn that diplomacy begins with listening, that leadership means service, and that true citizenship extends far beyond national borders while remaining deeply rooted in one’s home.
Carrying Costa Rica’s Voice Forward
As the 2026 delegation prepares to travel to New York, they carry with their pride in Costa Rica — a small nation with a big message for the world: that education, cooperation, and civic engagement are the most powerful tools for peace and progress, even if they’re representing another country for the role play.
Through NMUN, CRIA continues to affirm its mission of nurturing globally minded citizens who embody the school’s guiding ethos:
Think. Aspire. Achieve.
CRIA delegation meeting with the Costa Rican Ambassador
to the United Nations in New York City.