Written by: Lucia Rengel
HELP MUN CEO
When you are just starting out in a hobby or a sport you often don't completely know everything about it and you learn as you go and many times when you look back or reflect on the times when you were a beginner you realize that there were a bunch of things that were not okay but you didn't know that they were not okay. As I have mentioned in previous interviews and in my personal part of the HELPMUN website I started participating in Model United Nations when I was 14 that was in 2018 and at the time I did not quite grasp how important it will become in my life but also how many things it would teach me. Looking back on it joining the Model United Nations club of my school was a spontaneous decision that I made, and I'm happy to say that I don't regret it, not one bit. But today I would like to talk about a part of Model United Nations that not a single class prepared me for and something I always tell the delegates when I am being a chair.
First of all, I will never trash talk the community that raised me or the people who paved the way for many others like me in this community that is so big and diverse, but throughout my years being a delegate I often notice something that does shock me, especially when I see that there are new people in the committee, there are many chairs who will often put down delegates who are not experienced in MUN, and This is why I think a lot of people see joining Model United Nations as something unreachable or something really hard because a lot of times chairs will just put down delegates who are not as experienced and as a bystander I can literally see the regret in their eyes of joining this club and doing the things that they're doing. In my opinion, this should never be the end goal of giving feedback to delegates, I believe feedback is important and is where you as a delegate and as the chair learn what things you are doing wrong and how you can further improve yourself at something you love to do. But on those rare occasions when I have firsthand seen chairs putting down delegates I wonder where the line is dividing feedback and shaming a delegate.
Seeing this happen some times and hearing it though my friends throughout my experience in MUN, which is almost four years, Has really taught me one thing, delegates don't know their value in a committee especially when they're brand new to M.U.N, and that's why I always like to in classes and in actual Model United Nations tell delegates and students that “there is no debate, committee, or experience, without every delegate, because delegates motivate the debate and if there were only chairs in the room that we're in right now there wouldn't be any debate or any purpose of us being here”. And for someone who is just starting out this is the best motivation they can get and for someone who have already had experience this is the power that they need to showcase their talent even further, and many of you may think “don't delegates already know that?”, not all of them because many chairs put themselves in a superior position and not as someone who is there to make sure that everything goes perfectly and to moderate the debate.
Many of my peers have told me to never tell this to any delegate because their ego will rise and they will be disrespectful during the conference, but here's the thing, I am just telling them straight facts nothing that they shouldn't already know. Just making this simple statement will raise the confidence of the delegates who feeling down and remind the delegates with experience why they are here. I just believe that this is the whole point of a M.U.N to showcase your talent and help others grow never to put someone down and I can truly say but I am the luckiest person who has never had a chair do this to me. A few years back I told myself "If I ever got to be a chair in a M.U.N, and if I ever get to have that hammer, and if I ever get to stand in front of a bunch of delegates, I will make them know their value, and I just hope that whenever I'm a chair, not a single delegate will think to no longer participate because they are bad at what they're doing, because everyone can learn.”
To finalize, I would just like to tell all the people who have been chairs or who will be to make your delegates know how important they are to the community, the committee, and the cause that we are working for, make your delegates feel special and worthy of admiration, and don't ever make delegates feel inferior to the chair, because at the end of the day we are all just a bunch of teens that are equal outside the committee. And to all the delegates I would just like to say that if all the words of motivation that I have just told you have not further inspired you to keep pursuing MUN I just hope that you have given it a real chance and that this inspires you to one day be the chair that you aspire to have.
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