Congratulations SAKETH SRIRAM THIRU of class 11th for winning the best delegate award and being selected to co-chair a committee for IMUN Mumbai SAKETH SRIRAM THIRU: Participating in an MUN has always been a dream of mine, and starting my MUN carrier with a banging victory makes me feel glorious. I am a person who loves public speaking and endorses in a lot of debate competitions and so this was an ideal competition for me. In this MUN I represented the country The Republic of Kenya in the committee UNHRC(United Nations Human Rights Council). The agenda of my committee was PROTECTING AND PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS TO PREVENT AND COUNTER VIOLENT EXTREMISM. With a lot of research I managed to gather material for the conference. I learnt all the constitutional rights of kenya, researched about current problems in kenya, researched about the origination and flourisment of the major militant groups in the county, learnt the laws that were implemented to overcome crucial situations and learnt the important happenings that were occurring all in the country and in the neighboring countries of Kenya which included Ethopia and Somalia. The first day of the conference included the registration process and an opening ceremony. The real fun began on the second day, where we had 3 committee sessions where different moderated caucus topics were raised and the delegates of different counties voiced their opinion with respect to the situation of their country. Each committee session lasted for 3 hours each. In these sessions I, the delegate of Kenya drafted 3 working papers for the betterment of UNHRC. These working papers are being sent to the UNHRC headquarters under the representation of my name. We had a strong debate on what laws should be implemented and what laws should be stopped for the betterment of the world. Different delegates had different debates to be won for the betterment of their country. Each country put their views out and set the topic of discussion with relation to the agenda. I, as the delegate of Kenya formed my own union block, achieving majority in my committee which helped me pass my final resolution. On the third day, which was the last day of the committee, we had two more committee sessions where we drafted resolutions and debated against and for the resolution. I managed to pass my resolution with a majority vote in my committee. The final winning resolution is now being sent to the UNHRC headquarters as well. I also attended two press conferences as the representative of Kenya. To sum up, in the course of these three days we discussed problems in our respective countries and came out with final solutions. After 5 intense committee sessions we moved into the closing ceremony and prize distribution. In my committee I had 34 other committee members that came from all around India. I won the best delegate of my committee, which the first place is given to the best delegate in the committee. The winning delegates would also receive a chance to co-chair a committee in Mumbai and so I got this lucky opportunity cochair a committee for IIMUN Mumbai. This being my very first MUN and winning it makes me feel out of this world. This experience taught me a lot of things. I understood how to manipulate and play the game when the ball is in your court. I understood the real meaning of diplomacy. I understood real leadership skills. The skills that I learnt when I was the Head boy of WGS helped me a lot to win this competition. I would for sure thank my dad for giving me the major spoken skills needed to be an amazing speaker. I even thank WGS for jump starting my MUN career. This is an experience everyone should try because it would definitely bring out your inner talent. I would likely never stop MUNing now, All thanks to this competition! Vaishnavi Padmakumar: My name is vaishnavi and I was the delegate of Georgia and my committee was DISEC with the agenda : cyber security. It was first time in iimun and hence just like all beginners I was very nervous. It took me time to understand the procedure and the actual essence of mun but by the end of the 1st committee It was very clear to us on what to do. For a person like me who was not much aware and interested about international affairs between nations, iimun was an eye opener. I understood the relevance of staying updated about the regional national and international news. I understood how the carelessness of the citizens and their lack of knowledge about nations effect the nations, and i believe that that is one of the moto of iimun spreading knowledge about various nations and their relationship, among the youths. I was very happy when I received a verbal recognition and I would love to continue participating in more and more iimuns and learn more and more of various countries. Leon Sajan, Grade 9E (Delegate of Indonesia, WHO): To begin with my very sincere thanks to Shyamala ma’am and Arpita ma’am for believing in me and selecting me for this MUN. Secondly, I would like to thank Saketh Sriram (Delegate of Kenya, UNHRC) for convincing my dad to let me take part in this MUN. Last, but not the least, a very big thank you to Shubhra Ma’am for encouraging me to do better every time I stepped out of the committee room. It was her motivation that kept me going! In the closing ceremony of the IIMUN 2017, Bangalore Chapter, it was said that they study material was provided to schools 2 months prior to the competition, but our school got our study material just 2 days before the program. However, despite that problem, we were able to bag 3 prizes! The competition was held in KLE School, Rajajinagar. The first day was the opening ceremony of the IIMUN 2017 and it was delightful! The chief guest, Dr. TV Subba Rao, gave an astonishing speech and motivated all of us gathered in the hall for the competition that was to be held the next day onwards. Even spectacular dance performances were put up by the students of KLE School, Rajajinagar. On that very day, we came to know who are EB’s were(Executive Board). My EB were 2 females, Ananya Kaushal and Fatema Rani. They were my first EB’s and I’ll never forget them! Then came the day where everything was to start, the very first committee session of the IIMUN 2017, Bangalore Chapter. On that day, delegates were supposed to wear their traditional attire. To be honest, I was very scared. When I entered the allotted room for WHO , I sat down and waited for the others to arrive. When they arrived most of them were busy studying their material. They had so many papers, they got iPads, Laptops, there were phones on each desk…. Except mine! I didn’t get my laptop and iPad , but I had my phone. I took that out and placed on the table thinking that delegates around me would get scared that even I have big stuff in my bag. We started by an introduction or informal session and we were made aware of the ROP(Rules of Procedures) that had to be followed while the session was going on. My first session didn’t go very well, but then I came back stronger in the 2nd and 3rd committee sessions and I was very happy!. After the 3rd session we had high tea which was then followed by the DJ Party. The selection of songs were good but the rhythm was not that nice. We had supper and left from there keeping in our minds that the coming day would prove vital, for that day would be the final day and we would know who the best delegate of each committee was in the closing ceremony. We came back on the very next arriving quite early! Yes quite early! In the itinerary it was given that breakfast was from 7am to 8am, but while we were on our way, Shubhra ma’am informed us that the timings have been postponed to 9:30 am. We were stunned! So we had reached the around 7:30am – 7:45am, we collected ma’am from the school, who was waiting for us to arrive, and we went to have breakfast in a restaurant just round the corner. We arrived back in sometime and dispersed for our committee rooms. My EB had already arrived and almost every delegate was present in that room! Then came the others and eventually came our other EB and we were about to begin. That day was the best of all 3 days, because to be honest we had nothing much to do. I had made allies with CHINA, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Brazil, etc. and the opposition consisted of the going to be winner Delegate of Yemen, Japan, Afghanistan among others. Our ally’s draft resolution had passed but I knew that I had made the wrong decision joining this ally. Nevertheless, and the end of the day, neither I won or lost, but I took part and I was the among the first 5 to be selected from our school to go and take part in this international conference and I enjoyed it the most. I would suggest that our school’s director, Mrs. Sarada ma’am to approach to the IIMUN so that we can have this competition held in our school and we make sure that we only give the participation certificates to the other schools and we grab the lion’s share in every committee!! Jhalak Mehta: One of the greatest event, Indian International Model United Nations(IIMUN) was conducted in Bangalore for the first time in KLE school Rajajinagar Bangalore from 17th to 19th November 2017.It was a three day event with 8 committee sessions’ belonged to ECOSOC committee representing France. On the first day we had an opening ceremony wherein they introduced our chairperson and our vice chairperson. Eventually I got very scary of the chairs as they looked experienced but when I met them on the second day my perception totally changed. They were sweet and very helpful as my committee mostly had first comers. we had our first committee session on the second day and we started very slow. My first speech was flawless and was very confident. As soon as our lunch break got over my fellow delegates slowed down. Our chair eventually also got bored and took a special person for Funtime. we played music and dance for last 30mins.Later we got a information about having an DJ night which went amazing. The next day was the most important day of all as we had to give solutions to our agenda which was to “lay roadmap for SDG5.”It was a totally different day as earlier. we completed 3 moderated caucus topics in an hour out of which 2 were raised by me. Our chairs were very impressed and happy with us. We also made an unanimous Resolution of which I was the author. We had many informal sessions meanwhile. After our resolution got approved which will go to UN headquarters we had 2 hour left. We enjoyed our self in this two hours whole heartedly. Then came the time of results. I expected to come 3rd but was announced that I came 4th with verbal recognition. I was a bit disappointed but was also happy for participating in such a event. We also had delicious food in these three days. I was extremely satisfied after this event and would to attend such events more. Aayushi: When I was first informed that I was selected to go for an IIMUN, it made every nerve in my body dance. But what I was unaware of then was that every school had almost 2 months of research and study and we had two days left for the event. We began our research work. I had been assigned to be the representative of Russia. I was to be a part of the Legal committee whose topic of discussion and debate was “Countering terrorism through International and Domestic legislation”. We all started our research work dedicatedly(we did take a few breaks though). Shyamala ma’am played a very important role during our research. She was always there to help us and she has also worked quite hard. On the 17th of November, which was the first day of our IIMUN experience, was just the opening ceremony. We thoroughly enjoyed what KLE school had organised for us. There was an energetic dance which lifted my spirit. The next day, was the day our research and study would be put onto a test. Three committee sessions had to be held on that day with breaks in between. I was new to such an experience and thus couldn’t expect or assume anything. I was quite nervous during the first committee session so my nervousness ate up my words. But during the second session, I was fairly confident and quite satisfied by the way I was participating in the discussion . I had made allies quite quickly(bearing in mind my foreign policy) for the unmoderated caucuses. My allies and I, by the end of the day had drafted 3 working papers. IIMUN’s organising committee had organised a DJ night. I thoroughly enjoyed dancing with Jhalak and Vaishnavi. The last and final day consisted of two committee sessions. I absolutely nailed it. I had developed a sense of patriotism and responsibility towards Russia. Even though I couldn’t bag any awards, I had given my best and anyway, they do say participation matters most. We were the first batch of students to be given such a learning experience and I am grateful. I enjoyed this exposure all throughout, whether it was the one and a half hour bus ride or debates, whether it was the amazing food or challenging the people, whether it was our selfies or the question and answer session.
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