By: Nina Wolters
“Motion to open a moderated caucus,” Khreis announced to open the debate.
If you are looking for fast paced and heated debate, Model United Nations might be the club for you. Model UN allows for students to represent countries and to discuss creative and effective solutions to global issues and conflicts. It teaches students the inner workings of diplomacy and the United Nations. We asked the president of the club, Faisal Khreis, a few questions to get more insight into Model UN.
Describe BISB’s past experiences with MUN (past conferences, how the team has evolved, and other things)
I joined BISB 3 years ago, and immediately applied to be part of the Harvard MUN delegation. From there, I kept involving myself in as many conferences as possible, and witnessed the growth of the BISB MUN community. The delegations we have had from both middle and high school have had high-performing and award-winning students.
What impact do you think the model UN has had on the school?
In a general sense in terms of conferences, it definitely taught a lot of students the importance of civil discussion, problem solving, and critical thinking on problems in the world. It has a positive and long lasting impact on students who are pursuing law, history, or government oriented careers in the future. It’s also a very good teacher of leadership.
Would you encourage a younger MUN student body for the future?
“Definitely. A lot of younger students have already expressed interest, and their ideas are creative and well expressed, so I would advocate for it because it will also prepare them for conferences faced in high school and for eventual problems in the future.”
What makes MUN significant?
“It has links to so many different aspects, (both academic and nonacademic) that are important for all students. It teaches people how to work with others and be able to tackle any problems in the future. It also allows students to learn how to deal with different perspectives and remain open minded in reasoning with others.”
How does MUN compare to normal debate?
“At its essence, debate is part of the overall MUN process. While regular debate is often centered around the specifics of one topic alone, MUN aims to involve the many specifics of various topics to create one comprehensive solution to a larger problem. MUN occurs on a much larger scale, but is very helpful in terms of perfecting debate skills.”
How does MUN impact the way students see global issues?
“MUN essentially allows students to engage with global issues very well. By taking on the role of a national representative, students often learn how to take the perspectives of foreign leaders into account as they approach global issues. Overall, MUN is a very effective method for students to become more cognizant of global and historical issues. Since MUN is all about devising and presenting potential solutions to said problems, we’re able to further our understanding of what these issues are, and how to solve them.”
How has MUN been impacted by COVID-19?
“Frankly, COVID-19 has affected MUN significantly - at this point, all conferences are virtual, and this significantly limits our ability to converse with others in delegations. However, it certainly extends our reach around the globe, by virtually connecting us with those who may be living on the other side of the world within seconds. This helps broaden our perspectives, and allows us to expose ourselves to more points of views and ideas that can contribute to the solutions we work towards.”