Yoonjung Choi
November 20th, 2021
HKIS hosted its 2nd HKISMUN conference from October 12th to 13th, with almost a total of 100 attendees from Hong Kong International School, Island School, Discovery College, American International School, Sha Tin College, Renaissance College, Maryknoll, Diocesan Boys' School, Nord, and some independent delegates.
Model United Nations is a simulation of United Nations debate, designed for students to act as delegates representing a country to participate in the discussion. MUN involves delegates to do substantial researching on their stance, public speaking, debating, and writing skills, as well as critical thinking and teamwork skills. The issues discussed in MUN are on an international scale. During the debate, delegates defend their positions, working with allied countries to outline and propose resolutions and negotiating with countries that do not share their stance. The resolutions are then debated and finally voted upon by the entire assembly.
HKISMUN provided debate for students of all levels to come together and share this debate experience. This year, the committees at HKISMUN included the Economic and Social Council, Human Rights Council, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, US Senate, Historical Security Council, and the Security Council. The HKISMUN’s secretariats were Natalia Chu (12), Justin Choi (12), Nicole Tan (11), Hanson Yuan (11), Lina Chen (12), and Rosamond Chung (12). HKIS students chosen to chair in the HKISMUN conference were Iris Lee (12), Hope Tan (10), Dhruv Leekha (10), Katie Patel (10), and Subin Shetty (10).
During the opening ceremony, students learned about human trafficking and modern slavery from Matt Friedman, international human trafficking expert. During the closing ceremony, HKISMUN recognized Chloe Tse (10), Sean Choi (10), Siddarth Raykar (9), Anthony Du (9), and other students from participating schools for their hard work.
According to the HKISMUN club, MUN provides students with an opportunity to learn and gives an insight into taking a country’s stance when debating a resolution to solving the current issues. Students who attended HKISMUN agree that MUN is a place to improve their debating skills, public speaking skills, and even to develop new friendships.
Natalia Chu (12), Secretary General, stated that MUN exposes bright minds to permanent issues today. “MUN fosters international cooperation and fruitful communication so that we can find resolutions to problems today.” Nicole Tan (11), Deputy Secretary-General, agreed. “HKISMUN is special because students from all different levels, whether the student is a beginner or advanced, can come together debating to solve global problems.”
Justin Choi (12), Secretary General, said that the conference was overall a successful mix of depth to cultivate HKISMUN to become a very strong regional conference. He explained that compared to last year, HKISMUN had almost twice the number of students participating, more food, and more merchandise. "A lot of the credits are due to our teacher advisors who spent a lot of time with finance and communications. And from our team, Lina did a great job with the waterbottles merchandise designs. Natalia also did a great job leading the conference overall, and Nicole and Hanson did an excellent job communicating with schools and chairs.”
Justin Choi (12) and Natalia Chu (12) speaking at the Opening Ceremony
The chairs and delegates themselves expressed their admiration for the learning experience and productive debate. Katie Patel (10), Chair of HSC, said, “HKISMUN was a great conference that catered to a range of delegates with different levels of experience."
"During HKISMUN I learned many things," said Darcy Lin (9), delegate of Venezuela. "But the best thing I learned was the importance of government roles and Wadiya.”
Candice Lam from Sha Tin College and Kha-Nhi Nguyen (9), delegates in ECOSOC[/caption]
HKISMUN was an invaluable and memorable experience for many students, thanks to the solid planning from our Secretariat and the positive learning attitudes of the chairs and delegates.
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