Both NIMUN XIII and FSMUN X were Model United Nations Conferences that were help in Vadodara and Surat, respectively. In NIMUN XIII, I was a delegate of the United States of America in the Special Political and Decolonization Committee . I was also a part of a Group Delegation representing the United States of America in the United Nations General Assembly, discussing the illicit trade of drugs. Whereas, in FSMUN X, I was a delegate of the Republic of Yemen in the United Nations Security Council. What’s an amazing achievement in both of my recent MUNs is that I won the best delegate award at both the SPECPOL in NIMUN XIII and the UNSC in FSMUN X. Along with me, a few of my other school mates participated in the UNGA as a school. Though we didn’t receive any awards in the Group Delegation at the UNGA, it was a great experience. To add cherry on the top, my Best Delegate award had contributed in Fountainhead School receiving the “Best Delegation” award.

What makes these achievements cherishable is the hardworking efforts of weeks that I had put in to prepare for the Model United Nation. Though I’ve been to MUNs previously, during my research for NIMUN XIII and FSMUN X, I learned various things including managing my time effectively as the MUNs had collided with my coding competition and speaking for one whole minute without referring to any speech drafts. Something that was different from my previous MUN experiences was that since earlier I was a first-timer, I was learning from experienced delegates. However, NIMUN XIII was my 3rd MUN experience and FSMUN X my 4th. So in these MUNs, I learned more from the presiding officers as I became more confident to talk with them and I also shared my experiences with other first-timer delegate to spread the spirit of “MUNing”. The MUNs elucidates my creativity in terms of critical thinking, researching, making quick-decisions, and coming up with new solutions (known as resolutions in MUNs) for existing global issues.

These 2 MUN experiences helped me accomplish the following learning outcomes:

Learning Outcome 1 — Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

As per my 4 MUN experience, at every MUN we learn something new and develop areas for growth. In NIMUN XIII and FSMUN X, I was able to identify my delegating strength and developed my areas for growth as I learned more about MUN experiences and knowledge from presiding officers that had over 100 MUN experiences. Trusting on my delegating strength and working more towards improving it from experiences and new learnings, I was able to achieve the best delegate award at both NIMUN XIII and FSMUN X. My major driving force towards improving my skills and working towards my strength was my passion towards debating as I really enjoyed discussing about global issues with other people and having a formal argument regarding our opinions. Lastly, the thing that I never expected, not only first-timers but even delegates with more experience that I have, approached me and asked me about my MUN experiences and my perspectives on “What makes a good delegate?”. This made me really happy as I love sharing my knowledge and experience to others so that everyone can improve and learn something new.

Learning Outcome 2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

The challenging part in these 2 MUNs was managing my time effectively as the MUN dates and my coding competition just had a 2 day gap. Both were very important for me as I really enjoy MUNs and wish to perform my best and the coding competition was big and achieving a high rank was essential. Hence, it became really challenging for me to manage my time to prepare for the MUN as I also had a different commitment at the same time. Though, during the 2 week period of preparing for each MUN (total 4 weeks), I was able to develop my self-management skills by planning out a routine and dedicating required time to both my MUN and coding competition preparation. This not only allowed me to develop my self-management skills, but also allowed me to overcome the time challenge as my time management became easier and more effective. I feel really good having undertaken this challenge as this would help me in the future to better manage my time when different projects have submission deadlines close to each other as it really taught me how to effectively manage my time and developed my self-management skills.

Learning Outcome 4 – Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

As aforementioned, I had a total of 4 week commitment for both of my MUNs and had prepared a research document of 30 pages in total. From finishing my studies faster to skipping on my leisure time, I’ve shown commitment and perseverance to not only prepare for the MUN, but also give my best foot during the 4 day MUN conference (2 days for each MUN). Hence, I showed commitment and perseverance for the MUN as I came up with good quality work and dedicated my time. As it is easy for me to commit and show perseverance in things I’m passionate about and MUN/debating is one of them, therefore it wasn’t challenging for me to commit my time and efforts towards the MUN as I was really enjoying myself while doing it.

Learning Outcome 5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Working with others is generally difficult for me especially when they’re slower than me as it becomes harder for me to keep up with them. However, during my group delegation at NIMUN XIII, I was in a group with students of grade 9 and 10. Unlike my expectations, the students had done a great job at the group delegation and gave in various inputs that even I couldn’t think of. So initially, I wasn’t quite interested in the group delegation, but after looking at their enthusiasm and research skills, I got quite inclined towards the group delegation which allowed me to recognize the benefits of working collaboratively as more tasks are accomplished in less time. The importance of teamwork in the group delegation was essential as we had only 1 hour to prepare for the debate and doing everything on your own wasn’t possible, and hence we had divided the tasks which increased our efficiency and research accuracy.

Learning Outcome 6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

As recently I took part in 2 MUN conferences and a total of 3 MUN committees, I engaged with issues of global significance. MUNs are all about discussing global issues and trying to come up with unique and effective solutions for them. While the NIMUN XIII allowed me to engage with global issues of “nuclear and space warfare” and “illicit usage of drugs”, the FSMUN X allowed me to engage with the global issue of the ongoing war in Yemen. These issues are of global importance as it affects many nations and therefore is a topic in MUNs. Knowing about global issues contributes to my personal growth as it allows me to understand that sometimes small actions can have great impacts and also allows me to understand real-life problems. The MUNs helped me in gaining more knowledge about global issues, especially the war in Yemen which allowed me to develop my general and current affair knowledge.

Learning Outcome 7 – Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

The major ethical issues involved within the MUN were based upon the global issue. For example, for the Yemen war, the ethical issue about human rights and leadership was evident. These ethical issues affected me indirectly as I sympathized with the Yemenis and the crisis they’re facing. Before the MUN, I was more towards to the Republic of Yemen. However, after the MUN, I understood that even the Yemeni government is at fault and the MUN allowed me to gain knowledge about all of the stakeholders when its about ethical issues. My MUN experience helped me in considering the ethics of choices and actions and understanding that ethical issues have various perspective towards it.

During my MUN experiences at NIMUN XIII and FSMUN X, I developed various learner profile characteristics including:

• Inquirer
• Thinker
• Communication
• Knowledge
• Open-minded
• Principled

I was an inquirer when I researched more about the MUN topics as it intrigued the debating passion within me. I was a thinker while framing speeches and taking quick-decisions during the MUN. I was a communicator by using my lobbying skills and speaking skills in the MUN to have a better impact on all the delegates within the committee and persuade them for my delegation’s benefit. I was knowledgeable as I had used my knowledge and experience of previous MUNs to get the best out of these 2 MUNs. I was open-minded when I listened to the opinions of other delegates. I was principled while adhering to the rules and regulations of an MUN conference and maintaining the decorum.