CIS has just hosted one of its biggest events of the year: a Model United Nations conference in collaboration with Yale University (YMUN). After months of planning and collaborating with Yale directors and students, CIS has been proud to present the first-ever Yale Model United Nations conference in South East Asia: Yale MUN Singapore.
The conference was proudly introduced by Secretary General Way Lee, a sophomore at Ezra Stiles College who was also a member of the YMUN Korea and Taiwan secretariat. Originally from Singapore, he was “incredibly excited to organise YMUN Singapore for the first time, at home.”
What is MUN?
Model United Nations is a simulation of UN committees and conferences where students get the opportunity to learn, discuss, and debate about historical or real-time problems from around the world. These topics range from political disputes, climate action, health crises, and more, in committees such as the UN Security Council (UNSC), World Health Organisation (WHO), or the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Students role-play as delegates representing different countries, where they draft and debate directives, resolutions, or papers, aiming to solve the problems addressed.
MUN is an academic competition, and delegates compete to receive the ‘Best Delegate’ award (the highest degree of commendation) per committee. Delegates can also receive the ‘Outstanding Delegate’ award (the second-highest commendation) as well as Honourable Mentions. At CIS, MUN is a club opportunity available for middle and high school students and counts as a CAS activity (under Creativity) for DP students.
A Great Opportunity for All Schools
This momentous collaboration with Yale was “really exciting on two fronts”, notes our CIS principal Mr. Smith. Firstly, being able to work with Yale students had amazing takeaways, such as “increasing the quality of conversation and debate through the experience that they bring.” Noah Killeen, Secretary General of Branding and Director of WHO, expresses his excitement in helping host a conference in Singapore as a Yale student. “I’m super thankful to CIS for allowing us to come to Singapore. This is our first conference here and it really exceeded our expectations when it came to membership and the quality of the conferences.”
Mr. Smith also expressed an appreciation for “having delegates coming in from not only the city but also around the world”. CIS hosted schools from New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Canada, as well as many in Singapore. Mr. Nirupan, a coordinator from the Toronto after-school program shares that he “really wanted to be a part of Yale MUN Singapore” because it’s one of the most “multicultural cities in the world, especially in Asia”, which is why it was the “perfect location to host a Model UN conference. Alex and Trace, both delegates participating in the program, explained that they “underestimated the conference” because they unexpectedly saw “a lot of talent” in their fellow delegates, and it was “really cool” to travel to a new country for a conference.
As for the CISMUN team, leader Ms. Fumoux felt that it was a great opportunity for students to experience “something of a different scale” and the ability to “network” with the accomplished members of the conference. Ada ‘MUN Boss’ Jolly thought that her delegates “really enjoyed this conference because it gave them an opportunity to try a new (MUN committee) procedure, which isn’t something that [CIS] has done before in other conferences [the team] has done in Singapore.” She also felt that having the conference at CIS as a “home turf” gave some of the newer delegates “a bit more comfort knowing that it wasn’t completely unfamiliar territory.”
CIS Students’ Roles in YMUNS
A defining characteristic of MUN (around the world) is that it is completely organised by students. For YMUNS (the Singapore event), CIS students not only participated as delegates but also coordinated with the Yale team as Assistant Secretary Generals (ASGs) and Assistant Directors (the committee’s ‘chairs’).
Nikita Nair, a member of the CIS MUN team, shares her experience as an ASG for the YMUNS conference. “My role was ASG of Branding, so I was helping out with Noah, the Secretary General of Branding. I made posters and updates for [Yale’s] social media” she says. “I was mostly a part of the pre-conference [planning]. I helped in getting out the updates regarding the position papers, when all the deadlines were, and posting it on their account.”
As one of the CIS MUN committee leaders, Ada worked alongside the secretariat as an Assistant Director of YMUNS, in the CCPCJ committee. “I was in charge of helping my Yale counterpart Shelina. The two of us were running our committee to make sure that debate was in order and decorum was maintained at all times”, she explains. “We were also attempting to guide delegates in the flow of debates [and making sure] the experience was in a timely manner so that they could come up with a resolution.”
Luka Kavian Razzaghi worked as an ASG of Operations for the conference. “We had some roadblocks”, he explains, reflecting on the planning and logistics process of YMUNS. “We did have some issues with the venue because of the number of people.” Overall, he feels that “in the end, Yale MUN went really well.”
New Delegates?
MUN is often a competitive environment, and new delegates may experience a rocky start when participating in their first committee. The YMUNS conference definitely may have felt overwhelming to some. “I personally might not attend another MUN conference,” shares Ashlee Walker in an honest review after attending her first-ever conference. “At the same time, you know, the last day you get a little bit more comfortable with it.” With this in mind, we may also look to some of Joanne’s advice (Director General of Committees, member of the Yale team) from the closing ceremony, where she shared that she also felt like quitting after her first conference, but decided to try again and has not regretted it since.
CIS Awards Winners
A big congratulations to Ishaan Nikhil Palsule, Luke Thirlwell Gaudois, and Quirijn Antonius van den Bosch for receiving Honourable Mentions, Outstanding or Best Delegate awards.
Outstanding Delegate Luke felt that it was “an experience”, “enjoyable” and “overall an intellectually challenging experience, great for the development of patience and overall character skills”. He also recommends doing MUN if you actually enjoy it rather than “purely for the university applications” to gain a “proper experience”.
Quirijn, who was also an Outstanding Delegate, comments that “it was a very good conference, we were very sweaty but it was good.”
Regardless of the Singapore weather, YMUNS was an amazing opportunity for CIS and its students, and we hope for more opportunities to connect with students on an international level again in the future.