Just two weeks ago, on May 3, Clinton’s newest Model United Nations delegates tried their hand at crisis-resolving at their second ever conference, which took place at Hunter College High School. They tackled made up crises involving characters and storylines from popular shows and movies. Before that, they hosted a conference at Clinton hosting as runners to relay messages between different teams. I had the opportunity to speak with a few of these new delegates to learn about what it was like to navigate formal procedures, visit new schools, and collaborate and negotiate with each other.
In crisis committees students participate in stressful situations inspired by events in popular media. Delegates can either play as characters and must respond to each other in real time about solving fictional crises. They may send secret messages, negotiate solutions, form alliances working towards a resolution and a common goal. This allows students to prepare for the general assembly in a fun, creative way!
I asked Kelly Li, a new delegate, about her takeaways and experience and she replied, “I think we did well preparing and also in the actual conference, we did well for our first time. It was very helpful to do the back rooms before going to the actual conference because it helped us get a better understanding of how conferences work.” I also asked Kelly how she thinks crisis conferences will prepare her for participating in general assembly. She said, “Crisis made it easier to understand how MUN works rather than if we did general assembly because it was less formal, more fun but also introduced us to the basics of MUN.” Other delegates had similar feelings and despite the fictional stories, it gives students the confidence and preparation to participate in future conferences.
By attending these two conferences, each with a different role, such as being runners and relaying messages, or playing as crisis characters, these new members were able to become more comfortable in navigating the MUN setting. Some delegates such as Julliane Jansen, Ezra Pauls, Lavanya Bist, and Vemby Li, even received awards for their exceptional performances! With these newfound skills, delegates have an upper hand in public speaking, community involvement and learning how to speak passionately about topics that inspire them. These valuable skills can help prepare them for the real world outside of MUN and can give them a helpful idea of what career they want to pursue in the future! Luna Craemer said, “Now that I’ve seen what MUN is like, I’m really excited to continue to learn and have fun in MUN!”
