JCC Take Back the Falls: The Henchmaniacs
Single Delegate Crisis Committee
jcchenchmaniacs@uclamun.org
Committee Summary
Topic: Gravity Falls
Committee Summary: Gravity Falls, a small Oregon town rich with supernatural oddities, stands at a turning point in its history. At its heart lies the Mystery Shack—a tourist attraction that is the key to freeing Bill Cipher and his Henchmaniacs from the Nightmare Realm. Owned by Stanley Pines, the Mystery Shack has long been coveted by rival Gideon Gleeful who, desperate for control, has just struck a deal with the power-hungry Bill Cipher to enter the Human Realm and steal the Shack’s deed.
For eons, the Henchmaniacs—a band of misunderstood interdimensional beings—have been stuck in the Nightmare Realm and have sought to find ways to escape into the mysterious Gravity Falls, where they can finally be free to be themselves. They had once come close to freedom after Stanford Pines was tricked by Bill Cipher into building and activating an interdimensional portal underneath the Mystery Shack, tearing a hole in reality and creating the rift. After realizing Bill’s true intentions, Stanford contained the interdimensional rift in a small glass orb, hidden in an undisclosed location.
Now, under the leadership of Bill Cipher, the Henchmaniacs must work to find new ways to gain a foothold in the Human Realm, find the interdimensional rift, and free themselves from the Nightmare Realm, making Gravity Falls into a sanctuary for weirdness and mystery.
Meet The Staff
Alana Akiwumi
Chair
Dear Delegates,
My name is Alana Akiwumi (she/her), and I am honored to serve as your Chair for this year’s Joint Crisis Committee. I am a Senior Anthropology major with a minor in Global Studies, originally from New Jersey. At UCLA, I have developed strong interests in cultural preservation, global politics, and human rights, and I hope to pursue a career in law in the near future.
My Model UN journey started during my first week of high school, entirely by accident after I walked into the wrong meeting. Since then, MUN has become one of the most formative parts of my life. At UCLA, I have had the opportunity to staff multiple conferences, work closely with an incredible team of delegates, secretariat, and board members, and most recently serve as Director of Internal, fostering community and camaraderie within our organization. As this is my final LAMUN and my last conference before graduating, it truly means a great deal to be closing out my MUN career with this committee and this team.
This committee is set in the world of Gravity Falls, a universe full of strange phenomena, hidden agendas, and unpredictable alliances. The setting lends itself to fast-paced diplomacy, strategic decision-making, and a healthy dose of mystery. As Chair, I encourage you to engage deeply, think critically, and embrace the complexity of the narrative as it unfolds.
I am looking forward to seeing the energy, dedication, and creativity you bring to this world over the course of the weekend. If you have any questions ahead of the conference, please feel free to contact me by email.
Best,
Alana Akiwumi
Chair
JCC Take Back the Falls: The Henchmaniacs | LAMUN XXI
jcchenchmaniacs@uclamun.org
Valerie Pham
Crisis Director
Dear Delegates,
My name is Valerie (she/her) and I’m so excited to be your Crisis Director for the best side of the JCC this year! I’m an Economics and Political Science double major, planning on a career in finance or policy. I was born and raised in Oakland and firmly believe Bay Area tacos are still better than LA, but during my time at UCLA I’ve come to love it here in SoCal as well!
I joined Model UN at UCLA in my freshman year, where I’ve been able to meet the most amazing people on the planet and develop my public speaking skills on the circuit! I am so beyond excited to be working with arguably the coolest people in MUN at UCLA ever (shoutout Alana, Lizz, Paige, and Haktan!) and hope to make this JCC experience as memorable as Gravity Falls was for us as kids!
Outside of Model UN, I love to sew and make jewelry in my free time! Creativity and the arts have always been a big part of my life, as I’ve been painting since I was little and spent far too many formative years studying fine arts instead of being normal. While I don’t do as much painting now, I still love all forms of art! I’m big into fashion, played piano for nine years and have dabbled in graphic design, screen printing, lino printing, knitting, crochet, photography, videography, and drawing! On the topic of art, I designed all the LAMUN XXI merch and am easily schmoozed with compliments and merch purchases, so please check it out!
Since deleting TikTok, you can catch me doomscrolling on Ebay or playing far too much Roblox and Minecraft Hypixel. I’m also a big fan of ARGs, FNAF playthroughs, and Salad Fingers theories, and given how deep lore can get with Gravity Falls, I cannot wait to see your creativity shine! Thus, as a big fan of Gravity Falls, I’d hope to see non-brainrotted, thoughtful, impactful, and entertaining arcs throughout this weekend (fortunately for me, but unfortunately for you, Labubu matcha jokes will fly over my head). We cannot wait to see you all in the Spring!
Sincerely,
Valerie Pham
Crisis Director
JCC Take Back the Falls: The Henchmaniacs | LAMUN XXI
jcchenchmaniacs@uclamun.org
Elizabeth Lynch
Coordinating Crisis Director
Dear Delegates,
My name is Lizz Lynch (she/her) and I’m very excited to be your Coordinating Crisis Director (CCD) for the Gravity Falls JCC: Henchmaniacs this LAMUN! I’m currently a second year Mathematics of Computation Major with a minor in Bioinformatics. I have lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina my whole life (go heels!) and have a passionate love for soul food and strong dislike for the Duke Basketball team. In my free time, I love to log movies on Letterboxd and play with my little yorkie back at home.
This conference will be my one year anniversary with Model UN. I most recently was a Crisis Director for the Qin Wars of Unification 247 BCE at our high school conference BruinMUN, which was also my first time crisis directing. As for my experience with LAMUN, I first got involved last year in backroom staffing for Jiving for Java, Coffeehouses in the Middle East. While this was my first experience with MUN, I had immense fun and met some of the best people through the club.
Outside of Model UN, I am involved in the National Society of Black Engineers and Statistics Club (basically, I really love math). And while math is my favorite subject, history has always been a close second. Every night I will usually try to find a new history channel documentary or video essay to fall asleep to, so if you have any recommendations, let me know! I also really have been enjoying reading fantasy and historical novels in my spare time. This past year, I got into trying different coffeeshops around LA, hoping to find the perfect cold brew someday.
Outside of school I basically consume almost all types of media from Star Wars to nature documentaries and I'm super excited to nerd out with you all. Let's take you all back a decade, into the world and lore of Gravity Falls. We grew up watching Dipper and Mabel traverse the Falls and now I can’t wait to guide us all on the journey against the Townspeople! I am super excited to see where all of your creative minds take the fate of the town this Spring!
Sincerely,
Lizz Lynch
Coordinating Crisis Director
JCC Take Back the Falls: The Henchmaniacs | LAMUN XXI
jcchenchmaniacs@uclamun.org