Behind-the-Scenes: MUNITY-East Press

By: Annie Park, Korea International School

A day in the life of a press member is nowhere near easy. From 8 in the morning until 4 or 5 in the afternoon, every reporter, layout person, artist and photographer is constantly on his or her feet. The tension that emerges within the pressroom every day is unbelievable – it grows and grows until the prized USB containing eight hours of intense labor by 40 people is placed in the hands of the publisher.
Having started preparation months in advance, the team produces a daily newspaper for all THIMUN-Singapore 2008 participants. “The press, in my opinion, is here to highlight the successes of the conference, to really celebrate the students’ achievements – we’re the historians of MUN,” said Mr. Longbotham, chief advisor for the group.
Although working in the press does not involve hours of lobbying, days of heated debates, placards, speeches or resolutions, the truth is, the members producing the paper are just as much a part of MUN as any of the delegates at this conference. Press advisor, Mr. Parker, expressed, “One thing that really impresses me is that the students all get along. That kind of cooperation is very much the heart of what MUN should be - delegates all over the world coming together and working toward a common cause.”
Considering all of the time, the stress, the effort and the work the students put into creating the paper, it is no surprise that something so impressive as a 16-page newspaper is produced every 24 hours.
The true importance of the press is revealed each morning, when delegates purchase a paper, and show their interest and excitement in seeing themselves and their friends featured in the articles. “In terms of our role in the MUN society, I think that the delegates can sometimes be so focused on their own committee that they don’t know what’s going on in the other committees. By reading the newspaper, they can gain knowledge on many of the other issues – [the press] serves a very valuable purpose because of this,” said Mr. Parker.
The MUNITY-East press truly is a business, and what makes successful is, as Mr. Parker said, that, “The students all get along – people are working with the editors and accepting the editors’ suggestions without any attitude problem … there’s a real sense of professionalism in the atmosphere of the pressroom – every member is very mature and responsible.”
Advisor, Ms. Craig, added, “I think the press gives something that people can take away– a keepsake, a memory that will last even after THIMUN-Singapore 2008 is over.”

The Men of Law

By: Ting Chen, American School of Taichung

In a corner of the SALT Center, the International Court of Justice isolated itself from the other committees with its blocked windows and secured doors. The deputy chairs and registrar, Varun Arte, Yenson Huang, and Akihiro Matsukawa, spread out in a line on one end of the room with their President, Jessica Hung. The three silent young men helped to strengthen the structure of the court.
Varun Arte’s first experience as an advocate of the ICJ at THIMUN-Singapore in his tenth grade year kindled his enthusaism and passionate love for the committee. Through intense debates and questioning of the witnesses, Arte learns to self-actualize his potential as a successful deputy chair. “[ICJ] is a different forum [in which] we can speak without using the third person,” said Arte. “ I’m interested in law.” He found using the third person hard to trigger an active debate.
Arte’s satisfaction for the conference so far was beyond his expectations. “The advocates have prepared the witnesses really well. The witnesses are really making some good points. In our previous conferences we have witnesses that didn’t know what they are talking about.” Arte’s fellow companion, Akihiro Matsukawa, who has worked with him for numerous conferences, also added that “The judges are really active this year because [in the past] they usually fall asleep because of the boring debates.”
Matsukara began his career as an MUNer in THIMUN-Singapore a delegate in the GA. He became a judge in the ICJ for the first time when he joined BEIMUN the following March. “It’s really different from MUN, that’s why people shied away from it,” remarked the Registrar. “[But] the debate [here] is more direct. It’s less formal, so it leaves more room for actual and heated debates.”
Unlike Matsukara, who had experience in chairing, Yenson Huang from Taipei American School took on the deputy chair role for the first time in his MUN career. “ICJ so far has been quite exciting for me because its my first time being a student officer. I was quite nervous so I staggered a lot while I was chairing. It was quite scary for me,” stated Huang. He came in touch with MUN during a summer camp in Yale University. “I want to major in law,” replied Huang when asked about his devotion in the ICJ. “I don’t like to speak in front of a lot of people, so ICJ is a small conference [suitable for me].” In school, Huang demonstrated his love for singing by joining the choir. “I love singing in a group. I don’t sing solos or duets,” continued Huang as he moved on to voice his hope for this conference. “ I hope to be more firm and to speak more properly because I tend to mumble a lot.”
Arte, another enthusiast for the performing arts, tried out Theatre back in the International School of Beijing. He said with a comical tone that “Even though [he is] Indian, [he does] not like cricket.” As for his advice to the future judges, advocates, and chairs? He asked these participants to consider carefully before they step into the court. “If you really want to be a chair. You’ve really got to be interested in law, because it’s completely different. Once you got in, it’s really hard to get out. You’ve got to stick to your decision.”
Together and hand in hand, Arte, Huang, and Matsukara kept the ICJ under control and gave their full support to Hung the President.

Busted!

By: Lauren Lee, Korea International School
Resolutions might take days, weeks, or even months to put together. I haven’t seen a delegate that loved the process. But it is a matter of fact that every delegate loves debating the resolution afterwards. Maybe due to such a long preparation period, some delegates have forgotten that they loved debating. Munity-East snapped photos to find out how and why some delegates were rocking THIMUN Singapore and why some were sleepwalking through the conference
We witnessed a lot of snoozing. While other delegates were presenting or debating against the submitted resolution, some delegates were nodding off, possibly dreaming about debating and portraying their ideas. Due to packed schedules -- conference, homework, flirting, shopping -- delegates could no longer stay awake to hear resolutions that they had spent hours on. Whether or not they were going to be able to present a valuable vote did not matter, sleep was sweet as candy for those delegates.
If sleeping didn’t suffice, reading and texting proved tempting substitutes. Some delegates preferred novels to resolutions. They were very concentrated -- just on the wrong material. Some delegates were so excited about telling their friends about the resolution that they actually forgot about debating and went ahead with texting.
However, more good attitudes than bad attitudes presented themselves. Most of the delegates had resolution out and ready to quickly turn to the necessary clauses. Most of the delegates also had pens or highlighters to mark important passages. Delegate of Cameroon Callum Jubb and Suzie Kim never stopped taking notes and commenting on the margins of his resolution copy. This left him well-informed and ready for speeches right away. Good attitudes also included delegates’ speaking confidently and portraying their colors and ideas. Delegate of Netherlands Rick Harting commented that he demonstrated his enthusiasm for MUN by “speaking confidently and portraying his ideas whenever he is recognized.”