MUN Day is fast approaching at the beginning of February, so find out more about the benefits, and expected topics that will be featured on the day! Maria R. is the Mini MUN Secretary General with all the interesting insights on what’s to come. Read more to find out what’s in store for you!

Maude A.: “Could you tell me a little about yourself and what you do in MUN? What is your position? What are you responsible for, what kind of events do you take part in?” 

Maria R.: “So, I’m the mini MUN secretary general for SIS MUN 2025, and I’m in charge of organising mini MUNs, so that’s for students in grades 6-7, and we work with the MUN deputy secretary to collectively organise the topics that the students are going to debate, what they are going to do, and what the MUN day will look like. So that’s what we mainly organise. But as for my role in MUN, it mostly consists of organising workshops for the students and thinking about things that they would enjoy in MUN.”

Maude A.: “Why do you encourage students to do MUN, and join these events? What is the point of doing MUN?” 

Maria R.: “So, I think that a lot of people think that MUN is just debating, but what I want to do with MUN is to teach students to enjoy MUN and look at it not as a debate but rather an opportunity to improve their communication skills, their teamwork skills, to learn to communicate with others and to kind of lose their fear of interacting with one another. Additionally, to see it as an opportunity to learn about other nations and current situations is important, because if you are exposed to other perspectives, you’ll better understand what it means to be in a position where you have to be diplomatic. In MUN you’ll learn how to listen and understand perspectives that vary from your own, which helps you in turn be more empathetic – which are important life skills to have, especially as a global citizen.”

Maude A.: “What have you personally learned from MUN that you think is valuable in life?”

Maria R.:“Personally, I was never a huge fan of MUN, I was sort of ‘forced’ to do it at first, I didn’t really like the debate part of MUN and I started to enjoy the other aspects of it, so like what I learned, was more important for me rather than the conferences. For me, it was more about who I met or how I grew as a person. It was a place or an opportunity to develop my skills and when I had fears, say for example if I didn’t know how to speak in public, I could work on that through MUN, or if I cared about learning about certain topics I was able to easily investigate that through MUN. When I was shy, it also pushed me to speak to people, which also helped me a lot with my communication skills.”

Maude A.: “As for the upcoming MUN day, could you tell me a little more about what that is and what you do on this MUN day?” 

Maria R.:“So, the MUN day is different from the UN day we already had, which is like the day where we celebrate like the United Nations, but the MUN day, otherwise known as SIS MUN, is a conference where students can be in different committees where they get to pretend that they’re different delegates representing nations where they get to defend their positions and just try to look for solutions to current problems. Shortly said, we have lots of committees that target different problems either current or recurring problems. The idea is that you are debating them and eventually proposing a solution to them. My current role however has to do with more, like mentioned earlier, working with the younger kids, and that their MYP topics align with the debates.”

Maude A.: “What will you be doing on MUN day and what have you been doing in preparation for this day?”

Maria R.:“Ok, so I have been working with the other board members, not only the Mini MUN Board members but also the SIS MUN board members, and we worked on making sure that the committee guides are structured, we’ve worked on preparing the ‘chairs’, we’ve worked on contacting other schools and other guests that might be interested in coming to the school, and we have also talked to the 6-7 grade teachers about the recurring mini MUNs. Oh, and we’ve also talked about possible guest speakers for MUN day.”

Maude A.: “What do you expect, from an MUN perspective, to be the most fascinating thing that will happen on the day?”  

Maria R.: We know the topics and I think that the most fascinating thing will be seeing how people will look at the different topics from different perspectives, as even though it will be the same topic, students will look at the solutions differently, and each debate will form differently in each committee. The way it will work is that we will have different committees but there will be like a couple of varying groups with the same topics, and it will be very interesting to see the contrasting routes the conversations will take as people have alternating ways of looking at things, which again is the most fascinating thing, because it sort of the focus of how the conversations will flow. 

Maude A.: “What do you think is the most important thing that we collectively from the QQ do when we are reporting this day?” 

Maria R.: “Ok, so I think that last year there was a problem, where 11th graders did not show up. And I’m not sure whether that’s because it wasn’t promoted enough or that people weren’t ‘hyped’ for the event, so this year I think it’s really important that we promote it more and show that there’s actually benefits of the event, that it’s actually interesting, and it’s not just debating and a boring thing to do, and there’s a lot of things to do, but instead there’s also a guest speaker and other fun activities. Students can learn and enjoy during this event and see that it is beneficial. I also hope that students are actually encouraged and excited this year.”

Maude A.: “Ok, so because we are reporting on the day this year, what reports are you expecting for the QQ to write about?” 

Maria R.: “So, I think that in this case it’s more about being on top of things and looking at the debates and looking at the comments that the people made. Last year, the reporters were really immersed in the debates and wrote good articles about what they saw so I think that they should do the same this year. Caring for this event is the really important part of the reporting job for the MUN day, and showing the people what is really going on, on the day. It’s a matter of showing people what they want to see and showcasing the highlights. I think it would be important for the reporters to talk to the guests as well.”

Maude A.: “Perfect, I think that’s the end. Thank you.”

Maria R.: “Thank you.”

We are looking forward to a great MUN Day and can’t wait to see your perspective on the interesting topics that are sure to sweep you off your feet!