MODEL UNITED NATIONS Project by HTMNC, 8th Grade Class Brittany Perro, Emily Kyle, HTHNC MUN Students
April 9 - May 2, 2019
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS
Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.
MUN CONFERENCE 2019
ADVICE FROM 2019 CLASS TO FUTURE MUN STUDENTS:
"Don’t stress over MUN because you’ll make it!! It prepares you for high school but more for the real life. This is a great opportunity and trust me it might be boring at some points but at the end it’s very interesting with crisis and in general. I’m that kind of person that doesn’t like politics, etc and prefer sports but trust me TRUST ME it’s really really worth it."
"Just research, the debate is not hard as long as you say something in the debate. That your friend could back stab you at any moment"
"I would tell then to make sure to talk. They need to stay calm and confident during the debate. Also they need to not get distracted throughout the entire project. If they do they wont know how to handle the debate. They also have to remember it is only two days, and in thoses to days you have to talk five times in order to get a good grade. But talk as many times as you can, so that you might be able to get an award."
"Some advice I would leave for next years eighth graders, is to not stress and relax. Last year when I overworked myself for MUN, I ended up not talking since I had built it up in my head it would be this horrible thing that I overthinked. And this year I tried to relax a lot more and didn't overthink the conference which made the experience a lot more fun and enjoyable for me. So I would let them know it's not this big this to be afraid of, but just destress and not take it as serious"
"To not be afraid of the high schoolers and be the bigger person because they will take advantage of you if you don't stand up for your self."
"My advice for future 8tht graders is to be in communication with your chairs and ask for their advice and feedback. Take class time seriously and use the time given for debating. Take notes on what makes you a good debater. Make sure to participate a lot and do lots of research beforehand."
"I would tell them to not be scared because it is not that hard and that once you get your position paper down your speech will come to you very easily. Also if you happen to get Chloe she will help you and she is very nice and will help you out a lot.If you get stuck always ask for help that is what the teachers are there for, even if you think it is a dumb question it is still a question.Another thing is that the conference is not scary it is really fun. You will get stressed but in the end it is really fun because you get to play a role either as a charther or a person."
"Practice improvisation. During the debate, you’ll have to quickly formulate speeches and responses to other people’s statements. Being comfortable with public speaking helps as well, since being able to speak with an air of confidence lets people take you more seriously and further acknowledge your opinions. Stay in character, too. You’ll be tempted to follow your own beliefs, side with your friends, or do “the funny thing,” but this can deteriorate the experience for others who are relying on you to do what you’re supposed to do."
"A piece of advice that I would give for next years’ MUN eighth graders is that; Ask questions if you don’t understand something because then you will learn a lot more rather than if you didn’t because it helped me."
"For next year's upcoming 8th graders, i would suggest putting in all the effort you’ve got. Along with that I would suggest being confident. If you’ve got effort to produce good work and your confident enough to share your thoughts, then you’ll do great. Lastly, you’ve got to be interested in your topic which will make everything much more interesting and easier to get though. If you’ve got all of these qualities going into MUN, your bound to have a fun time and maybe even win an award."
"For next year’s 8th grade kids, i would tell them to just not worry for MUN, because if you just contribute, everything is a lot more fun. Digging yourself a hole won’t help anything and will just make the experience so much worse. Just go in without any expectations and i can guarantee your experience would be so much more enjoyable."
"I would tell them to keep a positive mindset, quoted from one of the teachers on the first day, “Keep a positive mindset, because if you go into MUN with a negative one, you’ll just have a bad experience.” Also, do your best to speak up."
"One piece of advice I would give would be to choose a topic you are interested. Even if you get in a group with your friends, if you don't like your topic you will lose interest quickly and you won't have fun. Another piece of advice would be to research thoroughly. If your speech is amazing but you don't prepare well for all possibilities, it won’t matter. You have to research your topic well so you can speak out for your country/character."
"The advise I would give for the 8th graders who do MUN next year is just to research all you can because you can’t plan out everything you want to say because sometimes no one else will talk about it or you will debate on every other topic so just research a lot so you can debate anything on your country or characters behalf."
"My best advice would be to not stress too much. If you have a good understanding of your topic and where you stand, you will do fine. Don't let the high schoolers scare you because they are just as nervous as you are. Be outspoken and state your opinions with pride. Don't doubt yourself because the more confident you are, the better you will do overall. Be proud of the work you put into your preparation. The most important thing is to research every possible thing that could come up."
"Be yourself and enjoy yourself. It's not about being perfect with great facts, it’s’ about being into it, committed and having fun. HAVE FUN!!! DON’T STRESS! BE SMART WITH YOUR ALLIANCES!!!!"
"Some advice I would give is that you research a lot, even about other countries. Also, to use your time very wisely."
"I would tell the next year’s MUN kids that you need to put all your effort it. They give awards to majority 8th graders that try their hardest and deserve one. They want people to join the club in high school and so they want to inspire the 8th graders by giving them awards if they try hard. If you try hard you are more likely to have fun and have good memories. It doesn’t matter if your country or character is small and not well known, you are still able to completely change the direction the debate is going. Don’t be deterred, I had a weird Austrian psycho as my character and he was pretty irrelevant but I managed to get involved with directive. Take advantage of directives, they are the best."
"Some advice i would give it to pick a topic you actually seem interested in. If you don't it becomes dreadful and hard to complete the tasks you need to do before the conference. The other piece of advice it to remember that every in MUN are kids. They will not judge you because your from middle school. If you play your cards right theme you can get an award and MUN can be a lot of fun."
"The advice I would give to next year’s eighth grade MUN kids is choose the debates where you are a character because the people always have an opinion and you are able to dress up as them. Also the most stressed people were those who had a country and were having trouble researching them as well as having an opinion on the debate. That’s why I recommend for future 8th graders that they are in character debates as well as they are very prepared. The more research they do the better for their debate to make the most educated decisions possible. Also have the 8th graders bring their position paper printed with them into the debate to have it for reference and for information."
"I have a little bit to tell the 8h graders next year. The first thing is to not procrastinate with writing your position papers and speech. I am saying this because there is a lot of information in the position paper and in the future will help you write your speech. The second thing is to go first with presenting your speech. It will help you in both getting it done and driving the debate."
"Always go in with an “I can do it” mentality because if you don't believe in yourself it's just gonna make it harder for you. Always be prepared to talk because you never know what will happen. Make sure that when you are talking that you are composed and calm. My final piece of advice is to have fun because MUN may seem boring, but its only boring if you make it boring or think it's boring. If you go into it thinking that you are going to have fun It all depends on you."
"The main advice I have is pretty strange. Play the extremes of whatever country you have. The debate will not be interesting unless you do things that actually make a difference. You still stand for what you believe in, but in a more extreme way. An example is for my country, Mexico did not want a wall. So I found ways to cross it, another example is the United States. The United States believed no one should cross illegally so they set up armed forces to kill anyone who tries to cross. You need to understand your country and do the extremes of whatever that country would do."
"try your best on your position paper if you don't plan on speaking but of course, you should try to speak a lot too. Don't worry overall it's gonna be fun. As long as you come in with a good mindset it's gonna be fun."
"Don't worry about messing up, you can't really mess up. Unless your that one kid who tries to get involved by starting a moderated caucus, and not knowing how to say what you mean. Other than that, you have nothing to worry about. If you don't get involved, you become more noticable. Its also a lot more fun when you get involved, if not, your just gonna be sitting there waiting for it to end for a few hours. So just get involved and you will enjoy it."