Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 This is the Owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. This is the Student edition. Listen to the exciting story of the American Community Schools of Athens. Check out what drives all the members of our international community of learners as we create the education of the future. Here's John,
Speaker 2 00:00:44 The model. United Nations is an educational simulation that allows students to learn about international relations, diplomacy, and the United Nations by roleplaying. As delegates to the UN in an M U N students research and debate current global issues and attempt to find solutions that are acceptable to the countries they represent. A CS Athens encourages students to participate in m n teams competing around the country and around the world, admittedly by students and faculty advisors. It is a valuable experience as it provides an opportunity to develop important skills such as public speaking, critical thinking, research and negotiation. Through the process of researching and debating complex global issues, students can also gain a deep understanding of their world around them and become more informed and engaged global citizens. Confidence, leadership skills and new friendships are the main benefits. Of course. It's a great addition to a college application as it demonstrates a student's interest in global issues and their ability to engage in meaningful debate and discussion.
Speaker 2 00:01:54 So what is the common link between Kazakhstan, Angola, ams, international Sudan and Mauritius? In this first episode of the two-part series on m u N, we are talking to four academy students and their advisor, academy Vice Principal Evelyn Pitas, about their participation in M U N. Let's see what the students had to say about the baseline knowledge of a country and going in depth on the issues of concern, doing research on issues and on non-issues for a country. Preparing for the experience of debate, presenting and researching through regular school material. Getting to know a country through being an advocate for its issues of concern. The value of supporting views that go against one's own, how being a good listener makes someone a good advocate. And reflecting on why someone should join the m u n.
Speaker 3 00:03:02 We are here today with Mattson, Iman, Kathleen, and Kai to discuss Model United Nations at ACS Athens. This year we participated in three different conferences. The first one being C G S M U N, followed by Thyman and ending with P S M U N. Now we have a group of delegates here, or ambassadors or chairs or judges, and I'm purposely using their model, United Nations titles because they held different positions in different conferences. Um, and each one of them will discuss their experience either at Diamond or at P S M U N or at C G S.
Speaker 2 00:03:49 Can we, uh, talk a little bit about M U N in general? What is this organization? What is this event
Speaker 3 00:03:56 Model? United Nations is a club at ACS Athens that follows the rules and procedures of the actual United Nations. So our students take on the, um, positions of delegates, ambassadors, uh, chairs, judges of different countries, and they're given specific topics, the actual topics from the United Nations, and they go to the conferences to support the country they represent. So as a delegate at the country, they are the actual country itself at the conference.
Speaker 2 00:04:38 So there, there is a specific agenda Yes. That each country a approaches. Yes. And the delegates are in a sense trying to convince someone or are they making an argument? What, what is their role?
Speaker 3 00:04:51 They're trying to pass their points through resolutions. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So they, they're given specific topics and they's a lot of work that goes into it beforehand. So they have to do their research, prepare resolutions. Sometimes they go to the conferences with the resolution. They do not necessarily have to have it completed because once they arrive at the conference, then they, um, have to do some lobbying, which means they come together with other countries to reach a common solution to whatever the problem is, whatever the topic is.
Speaker 2 00:05:24 It sounds very realistic. It is as far as I can say. So let's, let's hear from the students. Let's start with the first student here, your name and, uh, what was your experience in this, uh, organization on this event?
Speaker 4 00:05:36 Okay. Hi, my name is Kai. Um, I'm a ninth grader, so this is my first year doing Model United Nations. And so far I've only had experience as a delegate in both the CGS conference and the conference at Platinum School. PSM n and so far has been really fun and a really good start.
Speaker 2 00:05:57 What country were you representing
Speaker 4 00:05:59 In C G s I was Kazakhstan and in P S M U N I was Angola.
Speaker 5 00:06:05 So my name's Kathleen Thyman was my 11th conference and it's really surreal cause I started m u n as online as, and it's completely different when you go there and it's face-to-face and you get to meet all these people from so many different countries and it's so surreal because you're from different countries presenting different countries. So it's, it's a crazy experience.
Speaker 2 00:06:30 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:06:31 Hi, I'm Iman and this is my fifth year doing M n I was the chairperson for the school this year and I've attended almost six conferences. Um, three of them were online and three of them were in person. And I attended from this school, I attended, uh, Thyman and P S M U N. And my experience has been absolutely amazing. I've met so many new people through this conference and I've learned like a lot of different things about different countries and it has broadened my knowledge a lot.
Speaker 2 00:07:08 So what, what country did you represent
Speaker 6 00:07:10 At thy? I was Amnesty International. And at P S M U N I was um, Sudan.
Speaker 2 00:07:16 So Amnesty International is being handled as a country?
Speaker 6 00:07:19 No, it's an organization.
Speaker 2 00:07:21 So the role is what to in a sense, petition in a sense to introduce a resolution or what is the,
Speaker 6 00:07:26 You don't have a biased view. You are very neutral in situation. So you support whatever you think is correct. You don't have a opinion according to like a country.
Speaker 2 00:07:38 Okay.
Speaker 7 00:07:39 Uh, hello, I'm Matson. I'm a senior here at a c s. Uh, this was not my first EM n conference, the thyman, but it was definitely the largest one I've ever been to.
Speaker 2 00:07:51 So what country did you represent?
Speaker 7 00:07:53 I was a delegate for, uh, Mauritius.
Speaker 2 00:07:55 Okay. If we go back to, uh, your assignment, can you take us through the process of you preparing for the particular organization for each of the countries that you represented? What preparation did you do for Mauritius?
Speaker 7 00:08:11 Well, what I did was, first they, on the THYMAN website, they gave us guides on what the questions we were supposed to be resolving were mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I used those as my starting points. And then from there I did baseline research on Mauritius. So for instance, where is it? Like who's their president? What are their demographics? Like, what's their economy? What are their basic political relations? And then from there I went and like honed in on the issues. So I tried to find sources that are like from Mauritius usually that talk about like the specific issues I was assigned.
Speaker 2 00:08:50 Can you give us an example of an issue that, uh, you went and studied?
Speaker 7 00:08:55 So one of the issues was about, uh, labor exploitation. And it was what could we do as like an international community to help with issues like labor exploitation as well as human trafficking.
Speaker 2 00:09:09 So it's an issue in actual issue in that country. Yeah,
Speaker 7 00:09:12 It's okay.
Speaker 2 00:09:13 From the next country. Um, you represented, you said Amnesty International, it's not a country, but what kind of research did you do to prepare for, for the, your participation?
Speaker 6 00:09:25 Almost the same as Matson, but I did research on what the organization does and what type of relations they have with each country. And then after that I checked with what countries that they have like a good relationship with, they're a bad relationship with. So I could team up with those countries when I actually go to the conference. And then the next research I did was just reading the case studies they put out on the thy website and I just read all of those and checked the, like the general issues that we were talking about. And then I just checked Amnesty International's stance on those issues.
Speaker 2 00:10:01 And is there something that actually impressed you from what you read about Amnesty International? Or is it another text that you had to read for school?
Speaker 6 00:10:11 No, it was interesting to represent a non-biased view because I didn't, I just had other countries telling me to support their resolutions because I wasn't like biased towards a specific side. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I had a neutral view on everything.
Speaker 2 00:10:29 Okay.
Speaker 5 00:10:30 And suggests when I was, um, representing Kazakhstan that I also took in mind was how they have approached this issue before and how either this has worked for them or has not worked for them and why this occurred and taking into account what they've done previously and whether it worked or not kind of leads you to creating these solutions in the future.
Speaker 2 00:10:51 And what made an impression to you from reading the issues?
Speaker 5 00:10:57 Um, my issue at the time was, um, how intangible cultural heritage of a country gets lost during war. And it's an issue that I feel like a lot of people don't take into account during war because we see the loss of tangible culture, but we don't see, you know, the loss of traditions and the loss of all these things that make a culture a culture. And I think that's something that really stayed with me.
Speaker 4 00:11:20 Um, since Kathleen already talked about at CJs, I'll just talk about, um, being Angola at PSM one, um, one thing I realized is that the countries you get sometimes doesn't really have that much relevance to your topic. Like Angola isn't the most involved in space espionage, which was one of my topics. And so Angola doesn't have much of a previous stance or they don't really have anything they've done before.
Speaker 2 00:11:46 So this was an issue that you had to, to create an argument for. I mean, what was the argument? It's
Speaker 4 00:11:52 Just that I had no previous examples to work off of. So like during my research what I would do is that I'll just look at what their general foreign policy is, um, what they're against, what they're for in general. And I'll just apply the same logic towards issues that doesn't necessarily have that much relevance to Angola itself. And I felt like that worked pretty well for everything else I did what everybody here said. Um, just looking at the study guide and doing more research on the topic if I feel it's necessary. And yeah, that's it.
Speaker 0 00:12:26 You
Speaker 1 00:12:26 Are listening to the Owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. This is the student edition.
Speaker 2 00:12:42 So that was the first, uh, opportunity for everyone here? Or do we have previous experience on m u n kind of organizations? Miss Peter, you've been a part of similar situations in the past, correct?
Speaker 3 00:12:56 Yes. All our students here have experience with Model United Nations and even if it's their first time coming in, they pick up very, very quickly because they help each other. Um, and it's also important to say that all own the skills already because they share information, they learn how to debate, they learn how to carry on a discussion, they, they learn how to try to convince the other countries to vote for their resolutions. So they're given these global problems and the solutions they give cannot be, um, a solution for their own country alone. It's gotta be a global solution. So it um, truly teaches them how to think for the entire world in a way.
Speaker 2 00:13:47 And I'm talking to everybody here. I I, in your experience, which course from what you're taking right now is closer to what that experience gave you? I mean, I'm pretty sure something has to do with everything in humanities right? In languages and everything. But I hear something about space exploration here and space espionage. I mean, which course gives you the most tools to prepare you for this experience?
Speaker 3 00:14:20 I think all courses give them something they, they learn a little bit from here, a little bit from there. And it all comes together with Model United Nations. But it's not only the courses, it's also the other clubs or activities they may be involved in.
Speaker 2 00:14:36 You mentioned uh, debate.
Speaker 3 00:14:38 Debate or,
Speaker 2 00:14:39 So have we done forensics? Anybody has done forensics before? All of you?
Speaker 7 00:14:43 I, I did debate at my old school. Okay. So I feel like some of those skills have
Speaker 2 00:14:47 Transferred. Did you do M U N in the previous school? Uh,
Speaker 7 00:14:49 I did actually. Okay. But none, no conferences at the scale of Diamond.
Speaker 2 00:14:54 So you were doing it locally with other schools or, I mean, what was the difference?
Speaker 7 00:14:58 The largest one I did while I was, I was living in Mexico, so it was one that was nationally in Mexico. Okay. But never one that had like an international reach before.
Speaker 2 00:15:08 Okay. And when you came to this particular organization, I know it's a challenge, but you said before that it opens up the way that you see the world. So is there a specific takeaway that you say, now I can watch the news and I have a different opinion, or I read something on the web and I have a different opinion. What is the effect on your day-to-day lives from this experience?
Speaker 5 00:15:35 I think that because we experience being a country and a country that we don't have a lot of experience with, we kind of get a new perspective. Not only that country but the issue as a whole. Because we see these countries as Angola or Kazakhstan or Morris just, and we don't have like an opinion on them. But then when we actually researched on them and we're forced to actually apply the knowledge, we kind of gain a new perspective, not only on that country but on all countries as a whole. And I think it really broadens the way you view like politics or how you view international relations.
Speaker 2 00:16:09 So if you wa if you hear something in the news now about Kazakhstan, are you more likely to say, I put the volume map, I want to hear
Speaker 5 00:16:17 <laugh>? Yeah, I think it really changes the way you view it and it, I feel like I have a connection to the country as well now cause I know so much about it and I've lived kind of being that country.
Speaker 4 00:16:27 Yeah, I completely agree with what Kathleen has said. It, it really, it's just giving you new perspectives that um, and it's an opportunity to give you new perspectives that you don't really get from any other events. All of these, um, like speaking events, they're more or less intertwined in terms of skills like public speaking or speech writing. But what one does it really helps you becoming a global citizen let's say. And it really offers something very unique that only anyone could give you this, um, perspective about other countries and how to work with other delegates with different perspectives than yours in order to craft a successful resolution and to actually get something done. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to tackle the issue at hand.
Speaker 2 00:17:12 So you feel a little bit more into the being active in something that you could do potentially about Angola?
Speaker 4 00:17:20 Sure, yeah. It is definitely important to be active about these issues cuz that's part of what anyone like teaches you to be mm-hmm <affirmative> more active and engage in general with issues at hand and also through how to tackle these effectively through better cooperation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that's really important.
Speaker 2 00:17:35 Would, would you be more willing now after your experience to make uh, uh, arrangements and go vacationing in Angola?
Speaker 4 00:17:43 Um, I'm doing Angola for a different project and school and they have some really nice natural resources, so yeah. Why not?
Speaker 2 00:17:49 How about Mauritius?
Speaker 7 00:17:51 Um, I mean I personally don't see it in the cards that I'd ever visit, but I mean if I do, I'm sure I'd take away a lot from that experience.
Speaker 2 00:18:02 So Mauritius is, um, continental country. Is it an NY country? What is
Speaker 7 00:18:07 Say? Uh, it is an island and then some minor outlying islands off the east coast of Africa.
Speaker 2 00:18:14 Okay. So at least some geographic, uh, geographic skills, if not anything else? Yes.
Speaker 3 00:18:20 And keep it in mind that thy is the second largest conference in the world, first being Harvard. Of course. So these kids
Speaker 2 00:18:29 Experienced, I think we did Harvard one year, correct?
Speaker 3 00:18:31 Yes we did. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So these kids experienced what it feels like to be in the actual world forum. Mm-hmm <affirmative> in the city of Peace and justice, the Hague where we have over 300 countries being represented. So they really experience something big.
Speaker 2 00:18:51 I don't wanna say it's intimidating to have so many students around, you know, advocating for a particular issue, but it's quite impressive. It is. Okay. How about amnesty? I'm not gonna ask you if you're gonna visit amnesty, but you
Speaker 6 00:19:04 Know, I think because I myself don't have a very biased view on political situations, I enjoyed being the representative of Amnesty International because it lined up with what I also think as an individual. So I really liked being a part of that. And then for P S M U N I was representing Sudan. Okay. So I did much a lot of research on it. And Sudan,
Speaker 2 00:19:32 Have you had any previous knowledge of Sudan?
Speaker 6 00:19:34 A little bit, but not a lot. So I had to do like a bunch of research on it. Um, I really liked both experiences and I think both one organization in one country that I had like gave me Ave global perspective on everything and even like all the other conferences, they really broaden my view on every like topic. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 7 00:19:56 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 5 00:19:56 <affirmative>. Yeah. If I may on something that Iman said really reminds me how one of the hardest parts about being an m U N is having a country that kind of goes against your own personal views and having to support those views. And I think it really opens up your perspective and your ability to look at things from a different perspective and put yourself in other people's shoes. I think that's one of the best things that m u n can give you, being able to, you know, not only focus on your opinions and what you view the world does, but as how others view the world as well.
Speaker 2 00:20:26 Because this is something that we see more often every day, you know, people that are reinforcing our own opinion, our own perspective. And that is easy to do, but bringing to put your, you know, go to the shoes of someone else is always a challenge. Do you agree?
Speaker 4 00:20:43 Uh, yeah, absolutely. It's always a challenge for anyone to like sort of undo their own personal bias and be willing to listen to other perspectives and that definitely is one really big part of what m n is. Um, but I would like to just mention like in terms of technical skills, m n has really, really helped me learn how to better listen to other people when they're speaking cuz you have to listen before you can craft your own response. And that ties in with the different perspectives by listen, by actually being open to listen to these different opinions, you can actually give a constructive response that actually will contribute towards solving the problem at hand or actually make this conference a little better. So I thought that was really important.
Speaker 2 00:21:27 Very important. Uh, and, uh, I guess a question that I might have. What do you think makes a good listener?
Speaker 6 00:21:34 I think a good listener should be attentive to what the other person is saying. And I think details matter a lot as well because sometimes if a person is speaking and you actually are listening, you remember the little details that they're saying and that really helps you in like crafting either a question to ask them or a response or anything like that. So I think attention to detail and just being attentive overall is really what makes a good listener.
Speaker 4 00:22:06 If I may add something to the fact of being attentive. Um, it's, it's also really important to like have an open mind and not not going and listening with a biased mindset as well. Cuz that could really really affect how you interpret something. Of course when you're listening, everything's up for interpretation, but you also have to, um, keep in mind like, especially when you're writing something in response to what you're hearing, to not get too caught up in what you are going to say in response that might cause you to lose track of what they're saying. So again, being attentive to the person and going in there with an unbiased mindset really helps. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:22:45 <affirmative>, what would you say to a student who's coming now into 10th or 11th grade that are really apprehensive of joining the p the m u n team, the debate team. What would you tell 'em to convince them that this is worthwhile of your time? Because I'm, from what I hear, you did a lot of research on things that you probably couldn't do in your daily life. What, how, how would you convince that student? What would you tell them?
Speaker 5 00:23:17 I think we've kind of been talking about how serious m un is this entire time, but in reality, I mean it ends up not being a serious, I mean there's a lot of preparation for it, but I mean, the people you meet, I, I've met so many friends, which I mean like a year ago we were fighting for like a best delegate award and now we're like really good friends and I see them every conference and we've chaired together. Yes, the preparation may be difficult. I remember my first M u n I mean I kept talking to Ms. Petita, I was like, every day I kept going, going to her office cuz I thought I wasn't prepared enough. It's such an amazing experience that I wish everyone could experience it.
Speaker 6 00:23:54 I just think that the experience of meeting new people and like hearing new perspectives and just the experience overall. For example, for a conference like th I, I have never been to a conference that big, so I genuinely enjoyed it because I met people from all over the world and they're still friends. We're still friends even though we're in different countries. And it's really the whole idea of meeting these new people and just getting to know them and then also the experience of like debating with them or um, chatting with them about the issue that you're talking about. I think what I would tell people to convince them to join m u n was just the fact that you'll meet so many new people and you'll have a wonderful experience with just that. So I think that whole thing is the best way to convince them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4 00:24:48 <affirmative>. Um, if I might just quickly add, like, my pitch line would definitely be the gossip box feature. It's a fun little box that you could write whatever anonymously at the end. The chairs read them, they're usually pretty fun and chaotic and that's definitely a really fun feature for me. Out of the Emmen
Speaker 2 00:25:04 Conference, what's the best, uh, gossip you read?
Speaker 4 00:25:07 I think somebody rick roll the chair once, like they put in a telephone number like call Me and it's, it played the rick role.
Speaker 7 00:25:14 I would say that one major upside of m u n is that you're never going to be pushed into something that you're overly uncomfortable with because you have a lot of decision on like how much you put into it. They're never gonna like force you to go up there. You're always allowed to engage with it on your own terms. So I've known people who like their first m u n conference, they feel pretty apprehensive so they're not really speaking much, but as they like gain confidence, they're given the tools and the opportunity to start going in, to give their speeches, to start delegating at their own pace, which is something that I find to be a really good part of the experience.
Speaker 3 00:25:57 I wish we had many, many, many more kids joining M u n I believe we are the largest club of the school. And not to brag, but <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:26:07 It seems it's interesting to everybody. I mean, you see students personally, I've seen students that are really shy in other ways, but they really like the, the challenge of having the conviction of their opinion even though that opinion might not be their own. Exactly. And they're getting to know it's something completely different.
Speaker 3 00:26:27 Yep. And we also dedicate time to, um, enjoy the country that we visit when we travel to thon. So it's a balance.
Speaker 2 00:26:36 Thank you everybody for being here, for the outcast. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:26:44 You were listening to the Owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. Make sure you subscribe to the Owlcast on Google Podcast, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This has been a production of the ACS Athens Media Studio.
