“Renewing and Reconstruction”
A perfect introduction to the world of MUN
A group of our students joined the two-day Shanghai American School Model United Nations Conference held at the Puxi campus of the Shanghai American School on Oct. 15th and 16th. It’s the perfect introduction to the world of MUN for some of our newer delegates.
In MUN, students can take the role of being a delegate to represent an assigned country and thus, as a delegate, speak for the country’s views and policies. Professionalism and diplomacy are expressed through mediums such as the language used throughout the conference and one’s attire. This year, SHAMUN was an in-person conference and it featured a wide range of committees from their unique crisis committee to a 60-people General Assembly, a rare and valuable opportunity as many prestigious international conferences is now cancelled or postponed.
SHAMUN was a great success for SUIS Qingpu Campus High School MUN delegates. Our school took 12 delegates, and our students were spread across 8 committees with each committee trying to resolve 2 different topics. The conference theme “Renewing and Reconstruction” urged student delegates to break cycles of indifference and complacency by writing resolutions to tackling global issues that have been seemingly repetitive and perpetual. Walking through the committees, one would see our students having well prepared resolutions, collaborating to merge resolutions with other globally minded students from all over the world, raising points of information, submitting amendments, and participating in lively debate. Overall, the conference was well organized and a positive learning experience for all involved.
DELEGATES’
WORDS
Heather XU
SHAMUN was the first conference for all of us, and it was an unforgettable and impressive conference. During those 48 hours, we became more confident and articulate; we stepped out of the comfort zone; we were willing to get involved in the conference and there was a large improvement on our diplomatic negotiation skill.
With no doubts, we were all nervous, cautious, silent on the first day. For me, I even felt antsy when answering “present” when they called me, and only gave one point of view.
But the next day, after I totally understood the whole operation of this conference, I believe I became self assured and ready to represent the country of South Africa. When I received one new resolution, I learnt to check every clause carefully with a globally-minded outlook, asked the submitter questions, sent recipient to other countries and discussed.
The biggest achievement I gained was that one of my amendments had gotten approved, even due to the time limitation, I am unable to share my ideas. However, when I saw my amendment appear on the projection screen, I felt cheerful and reached a mile stone in my MUN life!
Angela ZHOU
I’ve learnt a lot through this exciting experience of debating and understanding how the UN might work in reality. The simulation fascinates me, as I met many peers who are exceedingly talented at public speaking, and got a chance to explore a new school I’ve never been to. Even though I only had one chance to speak for both days, I didn’t feel as withdrawn and insecure, and I learnt a lot about public speaking and made many new friends. I will definitely attend the next MUN conference because I think I will be able to do much better next time.
Oliver ZHOU
Throughout the competition, I knew the rules of the MUN. It’s really a sad story that our resolution didn’t pass. But I still had a wonderful time during the MUN, I hope to join the next one
Abyss MAO
As the representative of France, I was afraid at first that I might take some light actions to lead to some strange results of the meeting, so I didn’t bravely propose the amendment, but just mentioned some simple point, which did not make much contribution to amendment. Secondly, the academic aspect needs to be strengthened. After all, this is the first time to attend the meeting. I don’t have much experience. In addition, I didn’t know the professional terms well before, which led to my speech very colloquial. But with the help of my partners, I am slowly solving and experiencing qualitative progress! Thank you again for bringing me everything!
