My name is Joey Moore. I am a rising Senior at Kettle Run High School in Northern Virginia, and I have worked as a Media Associate, Editor, and Article Coordinator for Best Delegate.

I joined Model UN at the beginning of my Sophomore year. My first year we went to around 6 conferences, the majority of which were high school level. When we went our first university conference I decided it was time I try something I had heard a lot about: a crisis committee.

My first crisis committee was a simulation of the Spanish Morocco War and got me completely hooked. I realized I loved crisis committees but wanted to get better, and that was when I found out about the MUN Institute. I decided to attend the Crisis Program at Columbia University during the Summer between my Sophomore and Junior year.

The MUN Institute was definitely the best thing to happen to my Model UN career. Over that week, I learned everything there is to know about MUN and developed better communication and public speaking skills. I also made friendships with people around the globe that I still keep up with today. What really made the week great was the fact that we were being taught by university level delegates that we could relate to. 

Following MUN Institute I was much more confident and had more fun when I went to conferences. One day on the MUNI Alumni Facebook page I had seen that they were looking for Media Associate interns to post articles. Because I was passionate about Model UN I knew this was something I would love to do.

Since then I have used my skills I learned at MUNI to win Best Delegate awards at some of the biggest conferences, but more importantly I have had the chance to gain experience through my internship and post articles on this website. Because of MUNI I have had the chance to work on a team and write content about something I love. Without MUNI I wouldn’t have the opportunities I have today and wouldn’t feel nearly as confident when at conferences. MUNI has helped develop me as a person and my club as a whole, and is something that I attribute a lot of my success to.

Click here to find out more about the MUN Institute!

Model UN is full of leaders with varying amounts of power and responsibility. Whether it’s the head delegate for a travel team, the leader of a high school MUN club, or the Secretary-General of an international conference, choosing the right person for the job can be crucial. That’s why MUN organizations have different processes for choosing their leaders, and why each system has its own supporters and opponents. In this article, we’ll compare two common systems:

The “Open” System

This format uses open, student government-like elections to decide who will be in charge of the group. Candidates will often be allowed to give brief speeches highlighting their qualifications for the job and any awards they’ve won in MUN that distinguish them from other delegates. After considering each candidate, members of the group will vote to decide who fills the leadership positions, with the intention of giving everyone a voice and rewarding new ideas.

The “Closed” System

Instead of an open election, this system uses a more selective process in which the leaders are chosen by a smaller, closed group. The group often consists of the current leadership who are picking their successors and/or faculty advisors. By carefully considering each candidate, this process is meant to pick the most qualified individual(s) for the position.

With benefits and drawbacks for both systems, we sent out a survey to see which ones MUN Institute Alumni and Best Delegate staff have used, and what they think is the most fair and effective way to fill MUN leadership positions. Here are the results.

“Which system does your current MUN team/club use?” 

Half of the participants labeled the “closed” process as the one used by their current or  most recent MUN organization, with open elections only appearing in 30% of the sampled cases. Additionally, some responses mentioned a combination of the two systems, with elections used for school clubs or travel teams and a closed process used for the secretariats of large conferences.

 

“Which system do you prefer and why?”

Here, participants could freely write about which system they think is best, with the majority advocating for a closed, selective process or some combination of both systems. Only 20 percent of participants preferred open elections, citing the advantages of allowing new ideas and having a leader with a majority of the group’s support, saying, “…a popular leader makes the club less likely to die out, since any major decisions will likely hold the consensus of the group.”

Proponents of a closed process citing the importance of choosing smart, qualified leaders over popular delegates with the most awards. According to one response, “having a closed selection process with club advisors and current leaders grants an opportunity for a more broad evaluation of the candidates as a whole. Not every MUN club member has the time and energy to evaluate their future leaders. Oftentimes the person with the most awards can easily be assumed as ‘the obvious choice’ to vote for, completely neglecting other essential qualities for a good leader: empathy, vision, and stress-management.”

One-quarter of respondents preferred a combination of both systems, where the current leadership makes the final decision on a short list of elected candidates. One answer even involved using both systems in different contexts, noting, “While MUN travel team/organization leadership works well with an open election system for positions like Head Delegate and President, Secretariats are much more complicated to plan. A closed selection process for conference Secretariats is preferable because it allows people’s strengths and weaknesses to be evaluated on a real level in regards to conference planning – it’s not just a popularity contest. ”

Opinion Poll

Here, participants were asked to consider five statements and rank them on a scale from “completely disagree” to “completely agree.” Here are the results of those questions:

 

Want to become an MUN leader yourself? Try the Secretary-General Program from the Model United Nations Institute. The deadline for enrollment is June 1st!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey!

The MUN Institute is a huge endeavor – so many people put in hard work all year round so that our students have unforgettable experiences each summer. The MUN Institute Program Managers are especially dedicated – they serve as the directors for each program and location, and they have been trained to ensure that the MUN Institute is a safe, fun, and educational environment for every student. They work in conjunction with the rest of our staff, including the Program Directors, MUN Mentors, and Residential Counselors.

First up is Ibrahim El-Kazaz, an Egyptian American currently living in Istanbul, Turkey. Over the past 6 years, he has attended various Model UN Simulations across the globe and has experience with a number of different MUN formats including THIMUN, North American, and UN4MUN procedures. First trained by Best Delegate in 2014, Ibrahim has gone on to teach Model UN in India and South Korea.

In February of this year, Ibrahim served as the Secretary-General of the WFUNA International Model United Nations (WIMUN) conference, for which over 1,000 came to New York City to discuss global issues. The Secretary-General of a conference is in charge of managing staff, coordinating logistics, and ensuring that all delegates have a safe and unforgettable educational experience.

Ibrahim also has extensive experience teaching Model UN in the United States. He served as a MUN Mentor at the MUN Institute during the summer of 2016, and is greatly looking forward to serving as a Program Manager this summer. In addition, Ibrahim also served as the head of MUN Training in his university in Istanbul, and worked as the Assistant Director of THIMUN Online MUN for three years.

Regarding how MUN has shaped Ibrahim’s life, he said that, “MUN has given me a lot of self confidence, and helped me discover that I want to live a fulfilling life filled with travel and helping others. Teaching MUN helped me realize I want to teach in the future as well. And traveling and teaching MUN has meant that I’ve met people around the world that have opened my eyes and allowed me to see a lot of the world. I’m always grateful to everything MUN has taught me as well as all of the opportunities it has offered me over the years.”

Next up is Lala Kumakura, who has lived in many countries including Brazil and Japan, but currently resides in New York City. Despite moving around frequently, one thing has remained constant in her life: Model UN. Lala has founded and led Model UN programs for both the high school and collegiate level in different countries. She has over 8 years of MUN leadership experience, during which she served as MUN Club President at Fordham University and Director-General of FORMUNC.

Currently, Lala is serving as an NGO Youth Representative to the United Nations, where she regularly attends high-level UN briefings and events, take part in planning meetings with other youth representatives, and strengthens relationships between the UN and the greater New York City community. Lala is also a Team Director for the recently-established non-profit organization World for Refugees, which is a youth-led, refugee-led campaign dedicated to raising awareness for the global refugee crisis throughout the world and providing a platform for refugees to share their stories.

Lala served as a MUN Mentor for the 2016 MUN Institute, and has served as the Editor of MUNI Alumni & Community on Best Delegate’s Media Team since last fall. A proud alumna of the MUN Institute herself, Lala is very much looking forward to being a Program Manager at the program this summer.

On Lala’s Model UN experience, she says that, “Especially with the MUN Institute, Model UN has helped me gain confidence and learn about leadership. Whether I am presenting a project or interning at the UN Headquarters, I have been able to apply Model UN skills in ways that I never would have imagined. I am thrilled to work with our talented staff to create a fun and enriching experience for our students!”

It is that time of year for seniors in high school all around the world. It is time where all the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication boils down into one decision. It is the decision that will tell you whether or not you’ve been accepted or denied into the college of your choice. So image this: all the hard work and all the sacrifice is all bent into just a few words? This the inevitable fate that high school seniors have always faced. It is the mixture of confusion, anxiety, and all emotions in between. But it is a part of reality and a truth which cannot be altered. As a senior myself, in the midst of waiting for college decisions to come out, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t stressed and worried. Senior year in high school is the last part of youth and adolescence. From here on there is no more seeing the same advisory in the mornings, no more buying back to school supplies, and no more coming to same school for another year of high school. All those childhood memories are something that one takes with them when they go off to college. This is a situation that I, like many seniors, am facing right now.

College applications and high school work are intertwined, which makes focusing on Model UN that much more difficult. In my case, my college list was already long to begin with and it changed throughout the year. With that, it has also been arduous balancing the effort that goes into college applications with regular high school work. This year, in many ways the work load has overwhelmed me and at times I could not cope with all the stress. I found myself doubting that I could manage all the responsibilities that I had to do.

Now the question that comes to mind is: with all the pressure of college applications and regular school work, how does one have time to do such a challenging activity such as Model UN? In my experience, I would say one really needs to be aware of time management and how to balance a schedule. One of the many lessons that I’ve learned this year is to be thorough with how you spend time doing tasks for school as well as for yourself. As Model UN has been a huge influence on my life, I wanted to get the most out of this year by participating in all of the collegiate conferences that my school was going to as well as one high school conference. This year in particularly, my school had around 30 members for its Model UN club which is the biggest yet. Being the Co-Head of my school’s Model UN club added a little more pressure. With this in mind, I wanted to focus on having an impact on the club as a leader. Something that I constantly emphasized in my college applications was about giving back and mentoring new members of my school’s team to foster a similar interest and appreciation for Model UN that I have. Whether it was sharing a favorite memory of doing Model UN as a freshmen or doing a fun public speaking exercise, I feel as though I bonded with the members of our club, particularly the freshmen. I was lucky to say the least, but I still had to be responsible for completing my college applications along with my school work.

One of the many challenges about doing Model UN in senior year is trying to be committed to everything. The fun and entertainment of Model UN becomes outweighed by the pressure that school and college applications bring. Participating in my final collegiate conference was an emotional moment  as I realized that I would never participate in another Model UN conference as a high school student. The complex dynamic of trying to balance Model UN with college applications and school work is gone for me now. However, the enjoyment of participating in Model UN never goes away and neither does helping other people become stronger and confident delegates as well. While nowadays, I am no longer preparing to debate about issues such as environmental degradation for a General Assembly or thinking about strategies in a Crisis committee, there is still a passion to do Model UN.

Winter is finally over, and summer is almost here! As the school year is winding down, you’re probably thinking about all of the adventures you’ll be having this summer break. One of the best decisions you can make for this summer is to join over 900 of your peers to learn about leadership and diplomacy at the MUN Institute!

The last day to register and guarantee enrollment in your top choice program and location is Monday, May 1st.
Here are 5 reasons why you should register for the MUN Institute today:

1. Make new friends from around the world

Last year, the MUN Institute welcomed over 720 delegates from over 40 countries – and this year’s students will be even more diverse! Past students have hailed from China, Brazil, Singapore, Turkey, India, France, Peru, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and many more. By living and learning with students from all around the world, MUN Institute campers are exposed to new cultures, traditions, and viewpoints. MUN Institute alumni make lasting friendships with their fellow campers, and stay in touch year after year. Many of them later reunite when they go to college!

2. Gain leadership skills & enhance your confidence

Our main goal at the MUN Institute is to provide students with the confidence to succeed in MUN, school, college, and their careers. Model United Nations teaches students how to improve their leadership and communication skills, and it improves their confidence in themselves. Throughout our week-long programs, campers will learn about public speaking, negotiation, diplomacy, and more – skills that naturally enhance their leadership and communication skills. By the end of the week, all students go home having been transformed into more confident young leaders!

3. Experience life on a college campus

College campuses are centers for intellectual and academic exploration – they’re the perfect setting for young students who want to learn more about the world. This year, the MUN Institute is taking place at Harvard University, Georgetown University, U.C.L.A., and Southwestern University. These amazing schools all have beautiful campuses that are overflowing with energy and passion for learning. By living in college dormitories and learning in college classrooms, our campers get a feel for what it’s like to experience life on a college campus, and all of the exciting challenges that it provides.

4. Learn from passionate MUN educators

The MUN Institute is special due to the passion and dedication of our educators! The Program Managers, MUN Mentors, and Residential Counselors are all incredible college students that have years of MUN experience as award-winning, delegates, committee chairs, conference organizers, and club leaders. They are students at the worlds top colleges and universities, including Harvard, Georgetown, the London School of Economics, Columbia, George Washington University, and more! Every single MUN Institute camper receives daily individual feedback from their MUN Mentor, and we maintain an overall staff-to-student ratio of 1-to-12 to ensure every camper’s safety and academic experience. Click here to learn more about our amazing staff members!

5. Have an amazingly fun summer!

We know that you have a choice when it comes to summer activities – jobs, internships, sports camps, other academic camps – and the list goes on. But we know that the MUN Institute is perfect for any student interested in MUN, international relations, diplomacy, and countless other areas of interest. All of our campers have an incredibly fun experience at the MUN Institute – in 2016, over 720 students gave the MUN Institute an average rating of 4.8 out of 5, making it the highest-rated summer program of its kind in North America. Our number one goal is to provide a fun, educational, and safe experience for all students, and we are achieving our goal!

More Information about the MUN Institute

Want to know what program is right for you? Click here to learn more about our programs!
Not sure if you’re ready to enroll today? Fill out our registration check list!
Ready to register for the MUN Institute? Click here to enroll today, and use code LASTCHANCE for $50 off your enrollment!

Here at the MUN Institute and Best Delegate, we strive to offer amazing resources for Model United Nations delegates, educators, and parents. We want MUN to be accessible to every student around the world, and it’s our mission to achieve that goal.

This month, we’ve been re-launching our free, downloadable guides to better serve the MUN community. These guides are chock full of great information for members of the community – we’ve got guides for beginners, intermediate delegates, advanced delegates, and even parents!

Today, we’re launching our Ambassador Guide for Advanced MUN Delegates. After reading this guide, any student will be able to use advanced Model UN strategies to excel in any specialized or General Assembly committee. Readers will learn how to assess what chairs want to see in committee, how to practice advanced public speaking skills, how to write high-quality resolutions and position papers, and so much more!

Click here to get your free copy of the Ambassador Guide for Advanced MUN Delegates!

Here at the MUN Institute and Best Delegate, we strive to offer amazing resources for Model United Nations delegates, educators, and parents. We want MUN to be accessible to every student around the world, and it’s our mission to achieve that goal.

In the next two weeks, we’re re-launching our free, downloadable guides to better serve the MUN community. These guides are chock full of great information for members of the community – we’ve got guides for beginners, intermediate delegates, advanced delegates, and even parents!

Today, we’re launching our Crisis Guide for Advanced MUN Delegates. After reading this guide, any student will be able to excel in the dynamic world of crisis committees. Readers will learn how to think on their feet and succeed in fast-paced crisis situations, how to write crisis notes and press releases, how to research obscure committee roles and facts, and so much more!

Click here to get your free copy of the Crisis Guide for Advanced MUN Delegates!

In the past few years, hundreds of MUN Institute alumni have been accepted to top schools including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Stanford, Georgetown, and more! We at the MUN Institute are incredibly proud of all of our alumni. Many alumni have discussed their experiences at the MUN Institute during the college application process, and it seems to be working – our Alumni continue to be accepted to and excel at the world’s best universities.

As colleges continue looking for students who will become the next generation of global leaders, it’s no surprise that those with MUN experience are sought after by many schools. MUNers have the leadership experience, the communication skills, and the confidence necessary to excel in the competitive sphere of higher education.

Many alumni have discussed their experiences at the MUN Institute during the college application process, and it seems to be working – more of our Alumni going to the world’s best Universities than ever before! In the past few years, more than 100 MUN Institute alumni have been accepted to top schools including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Stanford, Georgetown, and more! We at the MUN Institute are incredibly proud of all of our alumni.

Many MUN Institute alumni are embarking on uniquely international college experiences. Rose Jacobs (right), who attended the Ambassador program in 2015, is one such student. This fall, she will be undertaking a dual degree program at Columbia University and Sciences Po in Paris. “The MUN Institute helped instill in me a passion for international relations and an appreciation for diplomacy that inspired me to apply to a program uniquely focused on IR. I will spend two years in France studying North American and European relations before returning to Columbia in New York City. I would not have opted for such a non-traditional, international route if not for the influence of the MUN Institute and the Best Delegate community!” Rose will also be serving as an MUN Mentor at this summer’s MUN Institute.

Ayush Saxena (left) attended the MUN Institute Diplomat program in 2014, and has been serving as a Media Associate for Best Delegate during this school year. Ayush is a student at John P. Stevens High School, which has an extremely successful high school MUN team, and he will be attending U.C. Berkeley this fall. Ayush credits the MUN Institute with a lot of his college admissions success. “Firstly, the MUN Institute gave me social skills that helped me ace all of my interviews,” he said. Ayush said that connecting to the MUN community through the Institute was important as well. “It helped me develop a network of connections that came in useful at conferences such as ILMUNC and WAMUNC; I was able to win Best Delegate in the Ad-Hoc Committee at both of these conferences. Awards such as these were a major part of my college applications.”

Punn Siwabutr (right), who attended the Crisis and Secretary-General MUN Institute programs during the summer of 2016, will be attending New York University (NYU) this fall. Punn is from Thailand, and says that, “The MUN Institute gave me an insight into the way American MUN committees – particularly Crisis committees – are structured. I learned a lot about MUN culture in the US as well. This helped develop my answers to the various college essay questions by giving a new perspective on the activity I already love.” Punn was also accepted to the University of Edinburgh and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

A number of MUN Institute alumni also factored in Model UN in their decisions about where to apply to college. John Salchak (left), who attended the Ambassador program in 2015 and the Secretary-General program in 2016, did exactly this. “After four years of having MUN be a big part of my life, I didn’t want to give it up. When looking at schools, I looked for teams that Best Delegate had said were competitive teams and hosted conferences.”

John eventually settled on George Washington University (GWU), where he’ll be a freshman this fall. “During my time at the MUN Institute, I also fell in love with Washington, D.C. and realized it’s where I wanted to be for the next four years. I decided to go to GWU in large part because of its MUN program!” John has also served as a Media Associate for Best Delegate this past school year, and he’ll be joining over a dozen MUN Institute alumni at GWU.

Overall, we at the MUN Institute and Best Delegate are so proud of our incredible alumni. We know that they will all continue to shine throughout their college years, and will use their leadership skills and knowledge of diplomacy to work hard to make the world a better place. We offer our sincerest congratulations to these students and the rest of the incoming class of 2021!

Read on to see even more MUN Institute alumni college acceptances from 2016 and 2017. Are you an MUN Institute alumni and want to be added to the list? Email conna@bestdelegate.com!

University of Pennsylvania

Daniel Gordon – Diplomat Program, Crisis Program, Secretary-General Program
Alan Wang – Diplomat Program
Eliza Hoang – Ambassador Program, Crisis Program (2016)
Dylan Zuniga – Diplomat Program (2016)
Hannah Nasseri – Secretary-General Program (2016)

University of Oxford

Khalil Mair – Diplomat Program (2016)

Harvard University

Liz Manero – Diplomat Program (2016)

Cornell University

Timothy Farrow – Secretary-General Program
Ariana Kim – Ambassador Program (2016)
Pablo Fiori – Diplomat Program (2016)

Brown University

Jamie Flynn – Diplomat Program (2016)

Duke University

Annie Hsu – Secretary-General Program
Rodrigo Ferreira – Diplomat Program (2016)

Washington & Lee University

Phuong Mai – Ambassador Program

Emory University

Cleopatra Myrianthopoulos – Ambassador Program

Dartmouth College

Alice Bennet – Secretary-General Program (2016)
Rushil Shukla – Diplomat Program, Crisis Program (2016)

New York University (NYU)

Punn Siwabutr – Crisis Program, Secretary-General Program
Rodrigo Ferreira – Diplomat Program (2016)
Ariana Kim – Ambassador Program (2016)
Danielle Susa – Diplomat Program (2016)
Gordon Ryoo – Diplomat Program (2016)

U.C.L.A.

Ariana Kim – Ambassador Program (2016)
David Yang – Diplomat Program (2016)
Hannah Nasseri – Secretary-General Program (2016)
Annica Denktas – Diplomat Program (2016)

University of Michigan

Nithya Ramesh – Diplomat Program (2016)
Jack Mahon – Diplomat Program (2016)

U.C. Berkeley

Ayush Saxena – Diplomat Program
Danielle Susa – Diplomat Program (2016)
Madeleine Valdez – Secretary-General Program (2016)
Hannah Nasseri – Secretary-General Program (2016)
William Kim – Crisis Program (2016)

McGill University

Oliver Xie – Crisis Program (2016)
Audrey Lee – Diplomat Program, Ambassador Program, Crisis Program (2016)

George Washington University

John Salchak – Ambassador Program, Secretary-General Program
Robbie Mathen – Secretary-General Program (2016)

Here at the MUN Institute and Best Delegate, we strive to offer amazing resources for Model United Nations delegates, educators, and parents. We want MUN to be accessible to every student around the world, and it’s our mission to achieve that goal.

In the next two weeks, we’re re-launching our free, downloadable guides to better serve the MUN community. These guides are chock full of great information for members of the community – we’ve got guides for beginners, intermediate delegates, advanced delegates, and even parents!

Today, we’re launching our Diplomat Guide for MUN Beginners. After reading this guide, any student will be ready for their first Model United Nations conference. Not only will readers learn how to write resolutions, give speeches, and do research, but they will also learn how to exude leadership and confidence in committee.

Click here to get your free copy of the Diplomat Guide for MUN Beginners!