1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,280 Welcome to Students Incorporated, a podcast where we dive into relevant topics and issues 2 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,600 related to the world of business, technology, education and design. 3 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:25,600 I'm your host, Mr. Jason. 4 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,980 Episodes include student conversations, interviews with thought leaders, and inspirational stories 5 00:00:29,980 --> 00:00:31,980 with an international flavor. 6 00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:35,920 This podcast is created and produced with the help of students from the International 7 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:37,920 Community School of Bangkok. 8 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:51,200 In today's episode, we will be discussing Model United Nations, which is a way for students 9 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:56,760 to actively learn about international relations, diplomacy, debate, and the UN. 10 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,280 My name is Kush Natani, and I'll be your host today. 11 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,000 You may know me as the tech engineer for the Students Incorporated podcast, but I'm also 12 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,760 an active member and future president of the Model United Nations club. 13 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,760 So Mr. Jason and I switch roles for this episode. 14 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,600 But you'll be happy to know that Lion is our co-host, who also happens to be another 15 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:14,680 member of the club. 16 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:19,960 Joining us today will be Mr. Dayton, our school club advisor, Jeremy, the club president, 17 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:21,720 and Karis, the vice president. 18 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:26,520 Today's topics will include discussions about the United Nations itself, how Model UN works, 19 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,040 and a few upcoming conferences organized entirely by students. 20 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,560 Before we get started, here's the quote of the day. 21 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,840 Our quote of the day comes from Doug Hummershold, the second ever Secretary General of the United 22 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,980 Nations, which says, the UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but rather to save 23 00:01:41,980 --> 00:01:43,640 humanity from hell. 24 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,320 The Secretary General of the United Nations is essentially the CEO or the boss of the 25 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:49,480 UN, voted into power by the member states. 26 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,780 It must be someone who is politically experienced and morally astute, and up to the diplomatic 27 00:01:53,780 --> 00:01:58,560 standard that's required to facilitate conversations between 193 member states who have very different 28 00:01:58,560 --> 00:01:59,560 viewpoints and opinions. 29 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,960 There have been nine Secretary Generals so far, with the newest one being Antonio Gutierrez, 30 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:05,860 elected in 2021. 31 00:02:05,860 --> 00:02:07,960 Here are some headline news from around the world. 32 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,600 The top movies of 2022 came out as follows. 33 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:18,520 Number one, Avatar, Way of Water, earned a total of approximately 2.1 billion US dollars. 34 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:23,280 Three more Avatar movies are planned for 2024, 2026, and 2028. 35 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:28,420 The first Avatar movie released in 2009 and earned 2.92 billion US dollars, making it 36 00:02:28,420 --> 00:02:30,840 the highest grossing film of all time. 37 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,000 Number two, Top Gun Maverick, earned 1.4 billion US dollars. 38 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:41,600 The first Top Gun film released in 1986 and made a total of $357 million globally. 39 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:45,440 Number three, Jurassic World Dominion, with $1 billion. 40 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,740 It was the seventh film in the Jurassic film series. 41 00:02:47,740 --> 00:02:54,800 The very first Jurassic Park movie came out in 1993 and grossed over $914 million worldwide, 42 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,200 surpassing Spielberg's ET, the extraterrestrial. 43 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:03,240 Number four, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, with $955 million. 44 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:09,440 The first Doctor Strange film was released in 2016 and earned $677 million globally. 45 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:14,940 Number five, Minions, The Rise of Gru, made $939 million. 46 00:03:14,940 --> 00:03:20,520 The first Minions film, which released in 2015, earned approximately 1.16 billion. 47 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:24,200 A fun fact about all of these movies is that they're all sequels. 48 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:28,840 All right, now from movies and business to sports and business, which by the way, will 49 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:30,360 be one of our upcoming episodes. 50 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:35,320 JD Sports is claiming that 10 million of its customers are now at risk due to a large-scale 51 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,000 cyber attack that happened at the company. 52 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:43,240 Customers' private information from around 2018 to 2020 could have been accessed by hackers. 53 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,160 JD Sports is trying to fix the problem and is contacting its customers to inform them 54 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:48,520 of the massive issue. 55 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,960 Moving on to the weather in Thailand, lately, the air quality has really been dropping. 56 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,240 The weather has gotten colder, but the air has gotten worse. 57 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,200 That's why it's recommended that even though the weather is cool, don't spend too much 58 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,300 time outside or it could hurt your health. 59 00:04:01,300 --> 00:04:06,360 If you are outside, feel free to wear masks to protect yourself. 60 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,440 Let's begin the first part of the episode. 61 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,600 Can you please introduce yourselves and say how long you have been a part of MUN? 62 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:13,600 I'll start. 63 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:20,120 My name is Mr. Dayton, and I've been a part of MUN for probably around 16 years. 64 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:21,120 Okay. 65 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:22,120 Hi, everyone. 66 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:23,120 My name is Karris. 67 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:28,600 I'm a senior this year, and I've been part of MUN since freshman year, so this is my 68 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:29,600 fourth year. 69 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:30,600 Okay. 70 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:31,600 My name is Jeremy. 71 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,840 I'm sectioning ICS-9 as well as the current club president. 72 00:04:34,840 --> 00:04:39,960 I've been in MUN for four years, so that'll be starting from my freshman year coming up 73 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:41,320 to senior year. 74 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,160 Can you also tell us what MUN is and what students are tasked with doing? 75 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:46,880 I'll take that. 76 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:54,680 Model United Nations is an incredible venue for students to participate in, to share what 77 00:04:54,680 --> 00:05:00,760 they know about the world, and really to interact with other students to learn what their capabilities 78 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,120 are. 79 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:12,480 It's been a fantastic avenue for students at ICS to be able to just project their worldview 80 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,280 and to share their views with others. 81 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:21,960 In more simple terms, we're basically role-playing countries to solve current world problems. 82 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:27,440 Anything from the current Ukraine war all the way to something fantastical like the 83 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,080 French Revolution, for instance. 84 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:36,400 Our next question is, why should people join ICS MUN and participate in conferences? 85 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,960 I think for me it's a fun way to meet new people. 86 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,240 You're meeting people across international schools and even Thai schools sometimes across 87 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:50,280 Thailand, and so you're able to meet like-minded people and bond over topics that you're interested 88 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:51,280 in. 89 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:56,560 At ICS MUN, we have a bunch of different schools coming, and I think it's a great opportunity 90 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:58,560 to improve your social skills. 91 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,560 Yeah, apart from your social skills, they can actually really help with public speaking 92 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:05,840 if that's one of your weak suits. 93 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:11,080 So for me personally, when I was just coming into high school, I was a really timid person. 94 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,880 I really didn't engage much with my fellow students. 95 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,480 And to be honest, going to an international conference and engaging with hundreds of new 96 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:24,760 people, that was something that I really couldn't think about or really even couldn't imagine. 97 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:31,200 One guy, a senior from at that time, I think, a junior at that time, introduced me to MUN 98 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:32,960 and actually got me engaged with it. 99 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:38,440 It was a great opportunity for me to actually develop more social skills, go talk to more 100 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:44,920 people and actually share my opinions on international affairs and current world issues. 101 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,880 Not just social skills, let's talk about leadership skills. 102 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:53,160 You two have developed some amazing leadership skills, and I'm really proud of you guys, 103 00:06:53,160 --> 00:07:00,560 how you've been able to share this vision of what is ICS MUN with the current students. 104 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,880 We've grown in leaps and bounds in spite of the COVID season. 105 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:08,220 For someone who is interested in joining MUN, what are the fundamental skills and characteristics 106 00:07:08,220 --> 00:07:09,840 they should strive to have? 107 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:16,400 I think a huge part of MUN is just the desire to learn about current events and the desire 108 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:22,600 to learn something new, because a lot of the times people don't want to join MUN because 109 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:28,200 they have to learn a lot of things, whether it's procedure or how does a conference run. 110 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:33,520 It's very difficult sometimes for a lot of people to grasp what we're actually doing. 111 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:38,840 And so I think a fundamental skill is just the desire to participate, to have fun and 112 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:39,840 to speak with confidence. 113 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,080 Yeah, they should definitely strive to have those. 114 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:48,280 Apart from that innate desire to learn, I think you shouldn't really come in with ideas 115 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:56,480 of diplomacy and something that you can do is basing everything you do off of the mindset 116 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,720 that you're there to change the world and whatever you're going to do is something that 117 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,260 you can benefit the entire global community. 118 00:08:03,260 --> 00:08:07,800 So it's less about, oh, I'm better than you, whatever you say is wrong and what about I 119 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:08,800 say is right. 120 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:14,640 And it's more about how can you and I, countries with totally opposing viewpoints sometimes, 121 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:23,000 and work together to essentially resolve conflicts or make the world a better place by eliminating 122 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,000 say poverty or conflicts in the world. 123 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:27,000 Those are excellent reasons. 124 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:33,960 I think also a growth mindset is something that everyone in our club has and really seeks 125 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,440 to push forward. 126 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:41,200 And if you're willing to learn from others, if you're willing to learn from your mistakes 127 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,480 and put yourself out there, you're going to grow. 128 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:49,080 We don't have this mindset of perfection and like, oh, I'm going to be best delegate in 129 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,560 the very first conference when I'm a freshman, but we're scared. 130 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:54,280 We're like, oh my, this is so scary. 131 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,040 And I don't know what I'm going to do. 132 00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:02,000 But you grow when you overcome your fears by just putting one foot in front of the other. 133 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:09,080 And maybe you only talk once your first conference, but after that you gain confidence, you gain 134 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:14,200 a sense of I can do it and then you do. 135 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,520 And so it's great for anyone with a growth mindset. 136 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:23,880 I think that's a beautiful part about MUN is that everyone has been there at their first 137 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,960 conference, not speaking much or not having any experience or not being confident in what 138 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:28,960 they're going to say. 139 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:32,160 And I think the best part is that since everyone has been there, everyone's super happy. 140 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,800 They're even there to try MUN in the first place. 141 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,440 And by being there, you just know that you're going to get better in the future. 142 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:45,360 Everyone who you see that's really eloquent at their speaking ability or leading the conference 143 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:50,960 as a chair, as a secretariat member, or an organizing committee member, they all understand 144 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,240 the first steps are the hardest steps to take. 145 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,920 So I feel like the idea that people are going to help you no matter what, they're not there 146 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,520 to reprimand you for being bad. 147 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:06,800 That's just not there in MUN because everybody understands that if it's your first conference 148 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:11,600 or if it's your first, second, third, even fourth conference and you're kind of shy, 149 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,360 it's still a learning experience. 150 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:18,640 Everybody is going through the steps of learning what MUN is and learning how diplomacy works 151 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:19,640 together. 152 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,420 Our next question is for Mr. Dayton specifically. 153 00:10:22,420 --> 00:10:25,680 Why did you start up the MUN club at ICS in the first place? 154 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:26,680 This is pretty funny. 155 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:33,400 I didn't have a clue what Model United Nation was when I first was a teacher here at ICS. 156 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:39,080 It wasn't really a thing in my culture when I was growing up, in like an 80s kid. 157 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:40,360 We didn't do that kind of thing. 158 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,560 We weren't really on our radar. 159 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:48,740 But one of the students who came from another school, his name was Ace Yu, and he was absolutely 160 00:10:48,740 --> 00:10:51,680 passionate about United Nations. 161 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:55,960 Now before that, I'd gotten emails about other, every now and then, oh, you're the social 162 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:56,960 studies teacher. 163 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:58,800 Are you interested in doing MUN? 164 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:04,240 And I'm like, well, I'll ask my students, and since I had no clue about what it was, 165 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,960 I couldn't really persuade any students to join MUN. 166 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,360 I was like, there's this thing called MUN. 167 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:10,360 You want to join? 168 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,160 And they're like, uh, yeah, maybe. 169 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:14,120 And no, nothing ever happens, you know. 170 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,080 But Ace knew a lot about it. 171 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,920 He had done it his freshman year at another school. 172 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,740 And when he came in, I'm like, yeah, let's do that. 173 00:11:21,740 --> 00:11:25,800 So it began as a student led organization and it still is now. 174 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:27,280 They are the leaders. 175 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:33,280 I think at the beginning of this year, we weren't even confident that we had 10 members 176 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:40,520 that fully came to our meetings, but now we have actually 30 plus members who are active. 177 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:46,400 And I think a huge part in growing our conferences this year or in growing our attendance was 178 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:51,720 just because COVID almost was non-existent this year, being that we were able to go to 179 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,560 so many conferences. 180 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:58,680 And that really is the best part about MUN is the community and meeting other people 181 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:03,800 is what brings people joy about going to MUN conferences. 182 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:09,200 And so these past few years when we didn't have any conferences, it was harder for sophomores 183 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,160 and freshmen now to understand what MUN was. 184 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:18,120 But now that we've been able to go to more conferences this year, I'm very happy that 185 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:23,200 all four of us here have been able to grow MUN into what it is now. 186 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,000 This question is for Jeremy. 187 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:30,120 We heard from a certain source that you've been to over 22 conferences, winning numerous 188 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:31,840 awards and accolades. 189 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,640 What keeps you coming back to MUN again and again? 190 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,480 Well, I feel like that's kind of a complicated question. 191 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,360 There's not like one single answer I can give. 192 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,480 I think it's divided into like three, four parts maybe. 193 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,340 So of course there's like the thrill of debate and like the adrenaline that gets you going 194 00:12:47,340 --> 00:12:53,480 after like you make like a speech or like the anxiety or like the excitement that gets 195 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:56,640 you going about like, oh, what's he going to say about this? 196 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:01,200 Or what is Pakistan going to say about like Kashmir or something like that? 197 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:07,960 And like engaging with debate or you know, that's already like a part of what I enjoy. 198 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:09,080 I love public speaking. 199 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:10,080 I love debate. 200 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:17,280 Or also, I think another aspect is that like really community, like the community in MUN 201 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,800 and meeting new people, like the social aspect of MUN is another factor that really brings 202 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:22,800 us together. 203 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:29,400 Like in the recent Tamasat MUN conference, we got to meet like all these university students 204 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:33,920 and like the professors, even MFA, like Ministry of Foreign Affairs, like officials that came 205 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:39,320 to the conference and like shared different aspects about how their job works and the 206 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:45,400 community especially, like how we're all thriving to like starting to build upon each other 207 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:52,080 and work together to grow as a community and how we as the future generation are fixing 208 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:57,360 the previous generation's mistakes or even improving upon them to make where we live 209 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:58,600 a better place in general. 210 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:04,200 I feel like that's why I go back to MUN even after 22 conferences. 211 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,240 Kheris, what do you enjoy about MUN? 212 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:12,240 I definitely do not have not attended as many conferences as Jeremy. 213 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:17,760 He's just honestly a little crazy, not gonna lie, but I appreciate that crazy because it's 214 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:24,280 what drives our clubs and definitely I feel like for me, it's the excitement that has 215 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:30,520 kept me going, attending MUN conferences throughout the years. 216 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,840 And I think it's the thrill of just, you know, having to wake up early in the morning and 217 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:40,280 go to school you've never been to, meeting new people and having to give a speech a minute 218 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,440 or like 30 minutes after you walk into the school. 219 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:49,920 And I think that excitement has really created a great community of friends that I still 220 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:52,060 keep in touch with to this day. 221 00:14:52,060 --> 00:14:53,400 This question goes for all of you. 222 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,160 What has been your favorite moment in any conference and do you also have any embarrassing 223 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:58,160 moments? 224 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,840 One of my favorite moments was I took a group of ICS students. 225 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:07,600 It was kind of an impromptu trip to Singapore, to NTU. 226 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:09,200 It was a college level conference. 227 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:16,480 Now our students got into this conference solely based on writing that they submitted. 228 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,320 And so their position papers were well written. 229 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:20,720 The students did an excellent job. 230 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:27,200 So the college didn't really even have an idea that they were high school students. 231 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:32,480 And so here we were with some of the men there, full beards. 232 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:33,480 They looked like Mr. Sean. 233 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,200 I saw like four or five of them. 234 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,560 They were senior pre-med majors. 235 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,040 And here we have ninth graders debating with them. 236 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:51,040 And wow, it was like white belts fighting black belts the first day. 237 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:52,240 We were getting creamed. 238 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,640 Jeremy was saying that, you know, this is where we're trying to work together. 239 00:15:55,640 --> 00:16:00,560 Well, some of these guys, they try to destroy you. 240 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:06,680 And one of my students, I just never forget, was in tears because two delegates and they 241 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:07,680 were law majors. 242 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,440 I don't know how they have the conscience to do this. 243 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,600 He was a 10th grader. 244 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:14,080 They tricked him. 245 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:19,640 He was a delegate of the United States into insulting another country. 246 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:23,420 And then he had to make a public apology to everyone. 247 00:16:23,420 --> 00:16:27,920 It was pretty bad and he was just like, I don't know if I can do this. 248 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:32,760 But that night he was up till maybe 3 a.m. or so preparing. 249 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,960 And the next day he took them to court. 250 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:38,660 Like it was amazing. 251 00:16:38,660 --> 00:16:42,840 He fought back and won everyone's respect in that conference room. 252 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,560 That was a really interesting experience. 253 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:49,100 I think the university conferences outside of Thailand have really like a competitive 254 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:56,080 mindset, especially those set in Malaysia or even Indonesia, I think, have a really 255 00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:03,800 intense setting that it's kind of intimidating often to go against those students. 256 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:08,640 Changing the mood, though, in another conference I've been to, it was in Jakarta, but it was 257 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:09,920 a high school level conference. 258 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:12,000 We were in United Nations General Assembly. 259 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,920 On the topic, I think, was Russia decided to militarize the moon by building a missile 260 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:17,920 base. 261 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:24,080 And my solution to that was that even though there's like a treaty that we can't really 262 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:29,080 own space or like militarize space, we should totally go against that. 263 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:30,080 I was Israel. 264 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:35,640 We should totally go against that and instead make the moon like a free market economy. 265 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:41,280 So we would allocate, we would divide the entire territory of the moon into 196 pieces, 266 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:45,040 delegate them off to each country in the United Nations. 267 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:50,520 And then those things, those little territories could be traded as part of national security 268 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:57,360 deals to either procure funds or to procure resources from those other countries. 269 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:01,880 And the best part is that it was called Moonstalks or Moonstalks. 270 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,840 And then that resolution actually passed in General Assembly. 271 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:12,680 So in the United Nations, we decided to capitalize the moon and sell pieces of it off to different 272 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:13,680 countries. 273 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:19,120 I don't know if you guys know Guy, but he's pretty famous around MU and conferences. 274 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:23,040 He graduated, oh, that's true, infamous. 275 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:31,040 He graduated class of 2021, but he was in one of my committees for BKKMUN in 2020. 276 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:36,760 And you're part of the European Union and he had, he was a delegate of Italy. 277 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,000 And so this story is, I feel like I've heard this story from 20 different people talking 278 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:42,920 about how funny it was. 279 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:48,440 But it was even cooler in the moment because he had brought in raw pasta and while he was 280 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,280 making his speeches, he was chewing on the pasta. 281 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:57,680 And everyone, the thing with Guy is everyone is so confused as to what he was doing, but 282 00:18:57,680 --> 00:18:59,820 it's the funniest thing in the moment. 283 00:18:59,820 --> 00:19:02,320 So that's definitely one of my favorite moments. 284 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:07,020 From that conference that Karis was talking about BKKMUN 2020, that was personally Mine 285 00:19:07,020 --> 00:19:10,000 and Lion's first conference that we'd ever been to. 286 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,600 And from that, not just that experience, but other experiences from that conference, I 287 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:19,120 think both of us realized that it was a thing that we wanted to stick with. 288 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:24,120 I specialize in doing historical committees, which is essentially we go back in time and 289 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,760 instead of being countries, you play as historical people. 290 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:33,880 And for Thai MU and last year in 2022, I was in the group called the Normans. 291 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:35,280 We were going against others. 292 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:39,920 Our win condition was that we needed to invade their city and take it down. 293 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:44,280 And the other team's win condition was that they needed to stop us from taking it down. 294 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:50,080 My team was doing so well that in the end, the other team decided to burn down their 295 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:51,280 own city. 296 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:56,620 So technically, their win condition was met because they didn't let us attack them. 297 00:19:56,620 --> 00:20:01,360 But our win condition was also met because technically the city was burned down. 298 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:06,240 And in the end, it was called a draw, even though very clearly I feel like we should 299 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:07,240 have won. 300 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:12,240 I am also an avid MUNer and my favorite experience, I have two actually. 301 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,560 One was the first one at the end of my first conference. 302 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:21,880 Both of our chairs told Kush and I that we are quite possibly the worst MUN people they've 303 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:22,880 ever met. 304 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,480 That was quite the humbling experience. 305 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:29,560 The second experience I have is a very recent one at BKK Month 2023. 306 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:35,720 I was a US Senator and what US Senators do, a very typical thing for a US Senator is get 307 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:36,720 arrested. 308 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:42,880 You take FBI to a dig up petty crimes on another Senator, which led me to get arrested by Jeremy. 309 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:44,560 And that was a very funny thing. 310 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:49,640 So we had to like just actually, so me and somebody else, I think one of the Secretariat, 311 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:55,880 we entered the room yelling FBI open up just because he was trying to use the FBI for personal 312 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:56,880 gains. 313 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,840 And then we had to just drag him out of the room. 314 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,800 Like we didn't have handcuffs, like obviously, like who would have handcuffs? 315 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,880 But we just dragged him out of the room and he was screaming. 316 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:18,240 And with that, we'll be right back after a short PSA. 317 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:24,200 The UN is an international organization that was created in 1945 after the events of World 318 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:25,340 War II. 319 00:21:25,340 --> 00:21:29,260 It has 193 member states and six official languages. 320 00:21:29,260 --> 00:21:31,880 It was created after the League of Nations was disbanded. 321 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:36,280 Its stated goals are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations 322 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,800 among nations, achieve international cooperation and be a center for harmonizing the actions 323 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:41,800 of nations. 324 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,440 Some of the challenges the UN is facing today are fighting corruption in Honduras, solid 325 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:50,620 fighting Yemen's truce, restoring trust in UN peacekeeping in the DR Congo and supporting 326 00:21:50,620 --> 00:21:56,480 the peacekeeping mission in Mali. 327 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,120 We are now back with part two of our Model United Nations episode. 328 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:03,500 This part of the episode will be about the upcoming conferences in the next few months. 329 00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:08,480 Our first question is, what is your specific role for both the Thai MUN and the ICS MUN 330 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:09,480 conferences? 331 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:14,640 So I am one of the Secretariat Generals for Thai Model United Nations. 332 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:20,440 So essentially what my job is, is that I need to organize the entire conference as Thai 333 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:25,600 Model United Nations and ICS Model United Nations are both like student run organizations. 334 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:31,400 So me and my team of members is the ones who are actually organizing stuff. 335 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:37,680 So coming up with like different topics, like ordering gavels, designing like designing 336 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,760 the little placards, designing the little notepads, so on so forth. 337 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:46,880 I think Kush designed a lot of the Instagram post stuff on for Thai Model United Nations 338 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:48,480 and we really thank you for that. 339 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:54,680 Apart from that, we did a lot of meetings with Mr. Wood, who is the director for Thai 340 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:56,200 Model United Nations. 341 00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:04,280 And we do a lot of emailing to delegates, chairs, other advisors about, you know, if 342 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,040 there's like an email that doesn't get sent to like the delegates, we need to follow up 343 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:09,240 on that. 344 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:14,160 And basically like all the behind the scenes work so we can get the awesome conferences 345 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:15,160 happening. 346 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,640 Kush and I are actually both Thai MUN chairs as well. 347 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:24,360 Although Kush also does other things for Thai MUN, which maybe he can explain later. 348 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:31,600 But for ICS MUN, we are both parliamentarians, meaning that we are under technically Sharvish 349 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,800 and Jeremy. 350 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:40,960 But we do a lot of work such as running the Instagram, designing the notepads, etc. 351 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:46,480 And I also wanted to shout out Tasha and Jaycee, who are part of our SNC committee, who also 352 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:48,880 help us with a lot of different tasks. 353 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:55,240 And what I basically do is get lots of important emails and forward them to my amazing students 354 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,120 who do everything. 355 00:23:57,120 --> 00:23:59,920 And then I pay for things with money and such. 356 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:06,680 But like, I feel like it's great because they are doing the work with the nuts and the bolts. 357 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:13,760 I'm more like a figurehead and I will, you know, I supervise and not that they need much 358 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,000 of it. 359 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:19,080 Students can get a little crazy sometimes, you know, with Lyon and other people being 360 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:20,080 in the room. 361 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:26,520 But you know, we manage and these guys do the hard work, right? 362 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,160 And I really appreciate that. 363 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,320 I never have to sweat about this group. 364 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:35,520 To follow up on what Karis said, three of us from ICS are chairs for Thai MUN. 365 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,280 So Karis, what are you, your historical crisis committee? 366 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:43,120 Yeah, I actually was a background chair last year for historical crisis committee, but 367 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:44,120 it was online. 368 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:49,200 So I'm very excited to go in person this year because Thai MUN is such a prestigious conference 369 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,840 and it's a lot more exciting when it's in person. 370 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:53,680 Yeah, it's the same for me. 371 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:58,920 I'm chairing the historical special operations committee, which is the same committee I was 372 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,020 in last year, actually, as a delegate. 373 00:25:01,020 --> 00:25:04,720 So I'm super excited to be chairing a committee that I'm passionate about. 374 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:09,400 And it's great that I also get to rewrite the rules of procedure for the same committee 375 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,680 because, you know, things can always be improved. 376 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:13,600 It was a brand new committee. 377 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:15,180 And yeah, it was really fun. 378 00:25:15,180 --> 00:25:19,440 Our next question is, what is the most difficult part about organizing a conference? 379 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,960 I would definitely say there are so many logistics. 380 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:28,520 I think the biggest part is like maintenance, having to talk to so many different teachers 381 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:34,100 at ICS, but also so many different advisors and teachers at other schools. 382 00:25:34,100 --> 00:25:40,060 And currently, we've been trying to do the best job that we can at having delegates sign 383 00:25:40,060 --> 00:25:44,880 up for our conference, which is pretty difficult because that means we have to do a lot of 384 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,700 advertising on Instagram, emails being sent. 385 00:25:48,700 --> 00:25:51,600 So we're pretty much doing that every day currently. 386 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:58,400 And another difficult part is a bunch of items that have to be purchased, whether it's notepads, 387 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:03,040 stickers, gavels, so many little things that sometimes you might forget about. 388 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:05,720 And then we think about them later and we're like, oh, we have to do that. 389 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:12,000 To add on that, I think the harder part is to balance all of that before we actually 390 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,120 get to the conference dates. 391 00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:19,580 I feel like we really started a bit late for ICS month and for this year. 392 00:26:19,580 --> 00:26:21,720 So we are kind of rushing through a lot of things. 393 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,680 We just got the gavels a few days ago. 394 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:30,520 We still haven't gotten our notepads and our delegate list is far from being complete. 395 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,240 We're currently working on that though. 396 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:37,000 Rushing the time to kind of balance these different responsibilities as the organizing 397 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:42,920 committee is I think the hardest part, apart from the logistics themselves to organize 398 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,480 a successful conference and a successful event in general. 399 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,840 I think a lot of times I feel like when a student comes into my room, they're saying, 400 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,040 Mr. Dayton, they start talking really fast. 401 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:57,800 I feel like I have to just tell them slow down and tell me what happened. 402 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:02,440 And because there's so many things that you have to do, you have to think about, maybe 403 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:10,720 you didn't prepare for, with experience comes a degree of certainty, perhaps a degree of 404 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:12,080 competence. 405 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:16,240 And when you're running or actually your first conference, which is like most of us are doing 406 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:22,680 here, then it's worrying, you know, and also you can even overthink or maybe think what 407 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:23,680 if this happens? 408 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:24,680 What if that happens? 409 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,640 Knowing what to spend your time doing is important. 410 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:34,120 And then yeah, like Harris said, there's so many logistical challenges that we probably 411 00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:39,720 didn't imagine before we started actually putting it together. 412 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,240 Our next question is what is MUN useful for in the future? 413 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:49,160 As a person who's applying to college, I think I can say a few things I've been considering. 414 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:54,480 So most obviously, like a career in the United Nations itself is obviously a thing to consider. 415 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:59,760 If you want to be either like the secretary general, like I think that can be an option 416 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,740 while it's in a rotational basis. 417 00:28:02,740 --> 00:28:08,160 You can also work in one of the boroughs of the United Nations like UNICEF or something 418 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:11,720 like that as one of the office jobs. 419 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:16,160 If you want like an internship, there's also like various internships that are available 420 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:18,640 to consider going into. 421 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:23,080 I think there's like an opportunity that UNCC going on right now for the university students 422 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:29,520 that were actually going into these meetings and actually helping the people run the actual 423 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:30,520 meetings. 424 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:31,520 So those are a few things. 425 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:37,160 If you want to go into international law or take a more law route, you can use that degree 426 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:44,800 or you can use that experience to get like a JD to go into law school or to eventually 427 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:45,800 become a lawyer. 428 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,400 To be honest, the possibilities are literally endless here. 429 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:50,120 So the opportunities are open. 430 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:56,320 I think MUN improves social skills just in general, which you need for any job. 431 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:02,880 And so currently, I mean, as we attend MUN conferences, we're all improving our social 432 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:03,960 skills. 433 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:08,200 But for me personally, I think it's certified what I wanted to study. 434 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,840 And as I'm applying to college, I have an interest in global studies, international 435 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:18,600 relations, political science, government, that area definitely was certified because 436 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:20,640 I attended MUN conferences. 437 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:25,600 And because it is in the general scope of those areas of study, I realized this is what 438 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:26,960 I wanted to study. 439 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,800 So being at MUN for all four years, it helped me realize that this is something that I'm 440 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:33,600 passionate about and want to take after high school. 441 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:34,600 Yes. 442 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:39,880 And everyone needs to speak, listen, you know, and to be able to solve problems. 443 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:41,840 And this is exactly what it's all about. 444 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,840 You're given complex problems, which there is no easy solution to. 445 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:51,640 And you have to somehow come up with something that other people are actually going to be 446 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,000 on board with. 447 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:54,320 And it's really difficult. 448 00:29:54,320 --> 00:30:00,920 But once you have been able to develop these skills, as Kara said, and Jeremy, that there's 449 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:04,280 so many endless applications of what you can do with those skills. 450 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,440 Our last question is, are students still allowed to join the club? 451 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:12,920 Well, as we're coming towards second semester and even starting second semester, I think 452 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:19,400 that if there aren't as many conferences available as the start of last year, where there were 453 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:23,480 we had plans for I think at least four or five different conferences. 454 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:29,200 In second semester, we only have, I think, including ICS1, there's three that I'm certain 455 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,400 of, maybe four. 456 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:37,880 So in terms of joining conferences, there's, I think, one or two you can go to as of now. 457 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:43,760 But if you want to join the club and come to meetings to see what we're doing, to practice 458 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:49,080 the skills before you go to an actual conference next year, that's also an open opportunity. 459 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,120 And the door is always open for all delegates who wish to join. 460 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:56,440 It's a great way to observe if you do want to join MU in the next year and we meet in 461 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,680 Mr. Dayton's room every Friday. 462 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,200 So if you have any questions, you can always talk to one of us. 463 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,520 We are running out of time, but thank you so much to our guests for joining us. 464 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:11,320 It has been a pleasure to have you on the podcast. 465 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,680 As we end this episode, we would like to thank our listeners and guests for continuing to 466 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:15,840 support the podcast. 467 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,520 Our next episode will be centered around a special subject and day, Valentine's. 468 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,240 We'll be hearing stories about dating, along with sharing a list of things not to say or 469 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:28,000 do on a first date, then ending with a fun game called Will Lion Find a Mate? 470 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:29,120 Make sure to listen to it. 471 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:32,440 This podcast would not be possible without the hard work and support of our international 472 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:33,840 student production team. 473 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,660 All music and sound effects are courtesy of Pixabay.com, a vibrant community of creatives 474 00:31:37,660 --> 00:31:40,180 sharing copyright free images, videos and music. 475 00:31:40,180 --> 00:31:42,020 And we are signing off until next time. 476 00:31:42,020 --> 00:32:04,640 We are Students Incorporated, because your voice matters.