We have a Model UN at our school run by all seniors and it is falling apart. Less than 10 people attend the meetings. The meetings are only once a month since everyone’s busy and not a lot of people attend. If we do meet, we only talk about the price for the conferences and we plan to go to the conferences(so far we went to JHUMUNC).
Next year I will be a sophomore and I hope to continue the club in our school since all the seniors are leaving but I have no prior experience how MUN is. What are some specific activities you do in your MUN? How can I interest more people to join this club next year?
If your school requires clubs to recharter and reapply to be a club make sure to do that. In my school, mun is a class that has a teacher with the class getting smaller every year because they cut those who are not qualified to go on. I think it is important to advertise your club to those who want to improve their public speaking, improv speaking, as well as research. Mun is also nice to those who want to work in a more international scale. My teacher always tells me mun is for anyone no matter what career because it helps hone speaking skill which is required for most people. For example, it is better to have a doctor who can confidently speak rather than stiff. Get people interested by pointing out improvement in public speaking. Mun can also get people on par with current events on an international scale. Maybe getting an advisor that likes current events will be a plus. Mun should also include going to conferences (a big part of mun). Conferences essentially are the main part. You take up a country and portray their policy on united nations matters such as refugees, cybercrime, child soldiers, food security, xenophobian and more interesting stuff. It becomes fun once you get used to it. Try your best in keeping the club alive if you want to further improve it. Good luck. I can try to answer more questions if i know the answer.
Hey there! I actually started a similar club, and I am apart of MUN. I would ask the administration to approve flyers, ask for a school announcement, and get a school-wide email. When you start, the best way to gain members is to tell your friends. My club started with 25 members because of this. Just for fun, I would advertise some sort of treat like donuts. People LOVE food. Most states have a conference for all the high schools. In my state, we all go to a hotel and stay for a few days during the conference. It’s honestly a blast. Hope this helps.
Also, talk to the seniors and have them do a “brain dump” of everything they know about MUN and how to run the club. Write that up and add to it so you can pass it along to the next generation.
Also if you think about the students in Parkland, many of them participated in debate. That served them well when they were talking to the media. Maybe use that feeling to encourage kids to be aware of the world and its issues and have skills to discuss them with others.
