A Surge of Interest in MUN

AISG’s Model United Nations (MUN), which has been around AISG for more than 10 years, is having its biggest year yet. Last year’s numbers have pumped up to an astounding 70+ members for the 2019-2020 school year. This unprecedented amount of new members brings up the question: what is the reason behind this sudden burst of popularity?

From the perspective of someone who has participated in the activity before, MUN is a fantastic opportunity for students to improve their public speaking skills and meet people from all over the world. It allows students to step out out of their comfort zone and arise to new challenges. Mr. Kennett, who has been AISG MUN’s teacher coordinator for 2 years, commented: “The MUN group did pretty well last year, and it always sparks more interest when the activity or sport or team performs well in a competition.” Mr. Kennett also believes that the surge in interest is due to an increase in international events; this increase leads (students to gain more interest in debating and discussing MUN topics.

MUN student coordinator, Sabrina C., also agrees with Mr. Kennett’s belief that MUN’s good reputation has caused a lot of new people to join. “I think a lot of people are joining MUN this year because MUN has quite a good reputation and people are realizing that MUN can really help them boost their skills,” she commented. Sabrina added that the skills gained in MUN can be translated into real life necessities and is another reason why so many students joined. Public speaking, research, and meeting new people are all essential skills needed not just in MUN, but also real life.

Following the trend in opinions, Jae Hyeok C., a freshman new to AISG MUN, has also attributed the new surge in students to MUN’s stellar reputation and ability to help students improve their skills. “I think that a lot of students joined MUN this year because MUN has a great reputation and it’s a very well known fact that MUN can help you improve various skills: public speech and debating as well as researching,” he commented. Jae also mentioned that trips such as SEOMUN are very large-scale, allowing students to travel new places, and meet new people.

Based off of these interviews, it is easy to see why so many students joined MUN this year and why previous students who participated in MUN love it so much. With so many members, this year’s MUN is sure to be a great experience as well as lay down a foundation for future AISG years with MUN.