This is a guest post from Jason Watanabe, the MUN Advisor at Cerritos High School.
CERRITOS, CA – Just a week after our split delegation returned from the National High School Model UN Conference in New York and the Berkeley Model UN Conference, what was suppose to be the start of preparing the freshmen for the Huntington Novice Conference became two weeks of a school closure, followed by an extension to the end of the school year. With the freshman lacking a conference and the upperclassmen missing out on their last few conferences, the Cerritos High School Model UN program sprung into action on behalf of their delegates, giving them one last chance at gaining the experience of a conference.
The planning started with a few Zoom meetings with the senior teachers of the freshmen class and they pulled in a few other seniors to chair including our current Secretary-Generals. In total, we brought in over twenty juniors and seniors to staff the conference which hosted about 70 freshmen who helped create this “unique way to interact with students,” as senior teacher Cindy Byun put it.
The senior teachers already had experience in working with the students in this setting as online speech assignments and individual evaluations were already being held using this platform. Based on this experience, most of the concerns came with informal caucus, as doing so in a Zoom meeting seemed like it would be impossible. Thus, we kept the committees to no more than ten delegates using specific countries based on the topics so the caucus groups would be evenly split. The remainder of the concerns came with students having access to reliable WiFi, as we had issues with students “cutting out” during their practice speeches and meetings. With some experience in the conference experience “going digital” with our fall conference and our in-house winter Security Council Conference, we already had platforms in place for online scoring and communication that allowed the committees to run smoothly.
For the most part, the committees ran smoothly. We managed seven committees ranging from Wildlife Poaching in UNODC to Counterfeit Medicines in WHO. We avoided the topic of infectious diseases such as Covid-19 since the freshmen covered that topic in a simulation in early February. A few committees ran into issues with delegates logging in initially and a local power outage at the start of the first day provided some issues for a few others. However, overall, the conference ran fairly smoothly as stated by senior Aakruti Desai who originally thought that “doing a conference online would be close to impossible,” however was surprised at how smoothly a committee could run especially with the breakout rooms allowing for bloc discussions.
Our structure for informal caucus was to have a short full committee caucus, then shift into “caucus groups” as delegates would request which breakout room they wished to be assigned. It worked well aside from the fact that it was hard to switch rooms once the caucus began. One chair would be assigned to each caucus group (breakout room) for evaluation and monitoring purposes. The conference was broken into two sessions, avoiding a lunch or dinner break that most conferences had. Instead, we allowed delegates to meet on their own separately to finish up resolutions and to have the resolutions ready when committee sessions continued after the weekend. Ultimately, the delegates were able to use GoogleDocs and Zoom to work on their resolutions together and developed substantive resolutions upon their return.
However with small committees, a few committees progressed very quickly towards wrapping up committee a bit early, thus we were able to develop last minute crisis topics which allowed for joint-committee sessions since the committees were small. It livened up the debate and also showed what other possibilities there are in the digital realm of conferences.
Ultimately, the delegates presented their resolutions, wrote amendments and we even were able to recognize delegates for their excellence. After receiving feedback, we met one final time to figure out what changes should be made if we were to hold another simulation. We realized that we could have larger committees, allowing for a more substantive and interactive debate.
Overall the conference was a success. Many chairs enjoyed the conference such as junior Hannah Chung who said “I was amazed at their MUN skills and felt so proud of the freshman even though I didn’t know them personally.” Overall the chairs felt similarly in that it brought back a lot of memories from freshman year and it was great to interact with other people in an MUN setting even if it was virtually.
Model UN has been a part of my life for almost 25 years including four years as a student at Cerritos High School. Experiencing a year where we missed our last four conferences was a bit devastating especially considering our seniors would miss out on their last few conferences. However, this experience also showed me that Model UN is special, not only because students gain skills they will not develop in many other classrooms and discuss complex issues that plague the world, but also because it allowed our students to apply the same problem-solving skills we have gained through Model UN to address the obstacles that we currently face such as finding a way to host this virtual conference. Senior Monish Suresh put it best when she said, “I will be able to utilize the knowledge I have gained through MUN in college and beyond.”
Some of the students never initially realized what Model UN could have given them including MIT-bound senior Jamil Dellawar who thought “it was just an extracurricular” however was exposed to so many topics he would never have touched on and developed skills he “would never have today as a senior.” However, junior Su Lee see the value in Model UN even virtually, as he said Model UN “boosted my confidence” and helped in “overcoming my fear of public speaking” of which conferences played a role. Hannah Chung went on to say that it helped her see her “passion for wanting to help people and make their lives a little better.” As Junior Rahul Pratap put it, the values of this program is that it helps you “keep striving for good despite the obstacles that are thrown at you.” All-in-all, Cindy Byun said it best, “MUN has challenged many times” but has also “brought me once in a lifetime experiences.” Model UN truly is in a league of its own.
Senior teacher Nicole Choung prefers in person committees as most of us do, but said that it was “a good alternative” because it “gave freshmen the needed practice for next year” to help them develop their skills and realize their potential. Jamil Dellawar also added that regardless of how a conference takes place, it is important to realize that we need to discuss some of these problems especially when they do not affect us, as while we are used to concern ourselves with issues that impact us, Model UN allows us to address problems that are affect others around the globe. Secretary General Tess U-Vongchareon went on to say that the conference felt “historic” and could “pave the way the way for online conferences.” As while the conference ran smoothly, I know many will be hoping that the future of MUN is anything but virtual.
As while this conference was created for the freshman, I can’t help but think of my seniors. One of my senior teachers Daniel An said that this conference was, “an experience I will always treasure” and similarly, I will treasure this group of students who participated in this historic event including the seniors who helped remind me that we can make the most of the situation we are given. We live in an imperfect world, but I am confident that we have the young minds that will help solve the problems of the future. Aakruti Desai continued to say that although unusual, it was an “incredible way for me to say goodbye to my high school MUN career.” As while I have come across a number of conferences, experiences, and delegates in my 25 year Model UN career, I can definitely say that this experience will be one that leaves a lasting impression on my life. As while it may not have ended the way they imagined, to me, it will forever be a farewell I will treasure.
