Nine high school students from Seisen attended the 2 days Model UN conferences held by Marist Brothers International School in Kobe on February 23 and 24, 2023. The delegates took part in 4 committees on the following subjects: rapid fashion, the militarization of space, young carers, and industrial farming. The interesting part of the conference was the meeting of the security council on the crisis of the Kashmir conflict. This topic was announced on the second day and the members replicated the actual UN Security Council and the emergency crisis meeting was called. I was one of the delegates to join the Security Council, representing India. The resolution we debated upon eventually passed despite facing obstacles regarding the difference in interest from numerous nations such as China and Pakistan. This was the first time I was exposed to the impromptu style of crisis in the MUN, and to my surprise, I also received the best delegate award in the security council.

Here are some views from the participants on the conference,“I figured out that the formal procedure was not as difficult as I had imagined it to be,“ Dahyun Oh (10). This explained how much she has been enjoying MUN and learning from it. Judy Yamamuro (11) mentioned her highlights other than heartfelt debates to be meeting new people and creating last friendships, as “Many of the students/delegates were very approachable and I was able to make a few friends.”

Our MUN students are now much more inspired to learn about additional global concerns, which we will be debating during Friday’s meetings. This will help MUN students to develop research and debate abilities, which are important assets for them to have throughout their lives. Furthermore, the delegates overcame the challenges, such as learning how to speak in front of a large audience and reflected on the nervousness felt by laughing it out during dinner and when we were all together as a group.

For all the delegates who attended the conference this experience will always be a cherished moment of their journey as it was their very first conference. This experience has helped all of us to reflect on our performance which will be very helpful in our future conferences at ASIJ and St. Marys for this year and the next academic year as well. The Seisen MUN members look forward to many more challenging and enriching conferences.