Last weekend, I attended a two-day-long MUN conference (my first one and a stellar one at that!) organized by Apollo MUN.
Apollo MUN is a student-led organization that was started in 2020 by our very own Kaushik Pardeshi. His mission directly quoted is, "to deconstruct the barriers of ignorance and stigma that hold us apart". To work towards this mission, they regularly organize similar conferences with various events like proverbial guest speaker sessions and exciting MUNs.
For this conference, I was representing Singapore at UNESCO discussing Misinformation and Hate Speech in the Media.
My Apollo MUN journey started with the MUN masterclass, an amazing initiative to help us newer delegates from being anxious, inexperienced to slightly less inexperienced but knowledgeable. We learned the workings of a MUN and how to write speeches and interact and most of all developed a sense of needed confidence.
After about two weeks of training, the MUN masterclass came to its end - you will be missed. Just a day before the MUN started there was a small ice breaker session with our committee's chair to allow debate to run smoothly during the MUN. It was a great experience. The chairs were nice people and delegates were interacting more as the session went on. We even had a fun little round of two truths, one lie!
Finally, on Saturday, the 19th of February, the big day arrived. Day one of the ApolloMUN February 2022 conference began. For me, the event was a mix of nervousness, anxiety, dread, excitement, joy, and a warming sense of fulfillment. The event started off with two amazing guest speaker sessions, Dr. Ariel King and Mr. Yaron Gamburg. Dr. Ariel King is an amazing person, working in the UN Economic and Social Council and with kids to improve their lives. She was an extremely kind yet respectable lady and she was strongly in favor of the advocacy of younger people. The second speaker, Mr. Yaron Gamburg, was an Israeli diplomat. From the way, he spoke to his mannerisms you could tell he was a seasoned diplomat. Even the way he addressed questions from the delegates only added to the impression.
After the round of wonderful guest speakers, we were split up into our committees and split up into breakout rooms to commence debate. The actual MUN went really well for it being my first time but it felt like my heart would burst out of my chest while I was giving my opening speech. Some of the delegates seemed especially competent and it was nerve-wracking going up against such competition as a first-timer. However, the chair was sweet and though there were a few hitches during the conference they made sure it moved along smoothly. The debate itself was engaging and then came resolution drafting. It was an aspect I was severely lacking in simply due to my inexperience. Somehow managing to get through that we delegates were able to come up with a few clauses and then decided to call it a night and have an unofficial meeting to complete it before tomorrow's conference.
The second day was an even bigger rollercoaster. We started off directly with the MUN where we had lobbying - the act of debating over and amending the clauses of the draft resolution. We started off the MUN with a relatively peaceful moderated caucus. Most of us were on the same page after the first draft was written. But the peace was short-lived. The delegate of DPRK, who wasn't present for the first conference, had joined this time. The war that sparked because of his presence was nothing to scoff at. He single-handedly enabled heated debate and conflict that lasted throughout the MUN. He was especially aggressive towards the USA and UK who didn't take too kindly to his harsh claims. However, it made the MUN a lot more interesting and interactive. When the conference ended it was like there had been no MUN. The formalities just vanished into thin air and everyone was able to speak as themselves. It was such a sudden but welcome change.
We also had a social session in between debates where all the committees came together and shared hilarious memes and just conversed about whatever came to mind.
But I can't end this article without talking about our final guest speaker and the award ceremony. The guest speaker was a great man who worked as a part of [insert position], [insert name]. He was a very knowledgeable person and imparted a lot of wisdom to us. Furthermore, he was very open to questions and answered them wholeheartedly.
Finally, the event ended with a prestigious award ceremony. Unfortunately, I didn't win any awards but I was just proud of myself for actually speaking up during the debate so I wasn't - too - sad about that. Congratulations to the delegate of Japan though they really deserved it!
And that was my journey through the two days of ApolloMUN. It was an exhilarating experience and gave me a chance to improve upon my public speaking and research skills. It was also a nice way of connecting with many people from all around the globe and overall I just loved the conference.