Fruitful Debate and Big Rewards.

On October 7, the ISB Model United Nations team travelled to the NIST campus to perform in the annual Bangkok International School conference. Approximately 400 delegates attended and debated among 20 different schools. The conference was wrapped up with a large amount of ISB delegates getting honorable mentions and many winning best delegate awards for their debate room.

Although perhaps quite an early start, as students we had to be at ISB by 5:40 am in time for the bus to leave, almost all of ISB’s teammates walked away from the conference with new friends and a smile on their face. Izzy Abate (11), who attended the conference for the second time on Sunday was quoted saying, “It was very entertaining, a good use of my Sunday to be honest.”

Some of the very talented delegates who got honorable mentions included Carissa Tan (12), a very experienced delegate. Rory Switala (9) managed to steal the show, the freshman had no conference experience and still managed to get an honorable mention as an outstanding delegate in his room.

Ben Siraphob, another senior managed to submit an extremely controversial yet hilarious resolution in his room calling for the South China Sea to be renamed “Chinese Aquaman’s Man Cave” which won him another honorable mention from his room. MUN conferences are strange times. Mathew a sophomore also managed to stand out in his committee despite the fact he had almost not fellow ISB delegates with him for support.  

Among the award winners for best delegate in the room where Adam Scherrer, another senior and secretariat for the MUN team. Won best delegation for representing Luxembourg (?). Although a strange country to assign to such an esteemed delegate, Adam still managed to stand out in his room and battle through the slow process of being in a NATO debate.

Ally Glucksman and Jason Hyun (12), managed to win themselves an award being two surprise clutch winners and further pushing ISB’s outstanding presence at the BKK conference. Poon Singhatiraj (12), another secretariat and leader of the MUN team represented China excellently in his committee. Poon is an excellent example of how experiences and dedication will show results in MUN. 

Much praise must be put towards the two advisors who have relentlessly provided support and feedback to the MUN delegates no matter their skill or prior experience. Mr. Oren Rubin and Ms. Marypat Weber have put endless effort into not only the development of the team but and its morals as well.

Taylor Chisholm managed to earn an award which placed her as one of the top performers in the entire conference when she won one of the two chair awards. To become the chair of a committee already requires experience to be recognized. Out of the many committees there were almost 30 chairs total and Taylor managed to place in the top two.

A large range of debate topics from maintaining security during climate change to the decapitation of a Indian naval officer were debated. Although some called for more seriousness then others almost all provided opportunities for our delegates to shine.

Although the conference was extremely long and almost 12 hours, everyone who participated seemed to enjoy it. MUN oftenly seems to be a boring activity, but these award winners along with all the happy delegates shows that as the secretariats say: “MUN will give you out however much you put into it.”