STMUN (CAS Project) & MSMUN—Service
STMUN finally happened! Moreover, it was successful and in-person. I joined the process of planning this conference in late February/March and given COVID’s situation (having not been able to attend PASMUN in-person and Taiwan’s lockdown during the summer), the MUN exec team was worried that we would have to move STMUN online as well. However, we anticipated (and hoped) that COVID would be better in December.
There were a lot of components that required discussion and support. For example, helping with food vendors, delegating classrooms, and communicating with faculty and staff. One of the largest components that the MUN exec team was in charge of is preparing our students and chairs for the conference. Because I am one of the Co-Presidents of MSMUN, I have also been training my middle school delegates. Each week’s lesson planned was different and strived to improve the delegates’ writing skills. In order to practice procedures, we also hosted some mock conferences for the high school club. This was something MSMUN was unable to do because we spent more time on helping students understand MUN procedures and concept. Given that most students have participated in STMUN, we may accelerate through some lesson plans in the future to allow middle school students to gain actual practice that better represents the actual experience. We can start with some reflection activities to make students recall on what they would like to improve or learn more about after Winter Break. Referring back to the mocks we hosted for the HSMUN club, there were some concerns. The first mock went smoothly and a lot of people participated. However, when we hosted the second and third mock conference, there was a lack of attendance and and participation. I believe that one of the main reasons was due to practices and stress. One improvement we can implement is to host smaller discussions to accommodate for the fluctuating attendance rate.
Before the day of the conference, KAS student officers were required to attend our opening ceremony rehearsal. As it went quite smoothly, I was able to stay and help out the admins. First, we labeled the seats in our auditorium so students from other schools knew where to sit during the opening ceremony. Then, I went to my committee (ECOSOC) to check on its set-up. I helped with looking for extra desks and chairs as well as some miscellaneous tasks such as erasing the board for our committee schedule to be written up.
The overall conference went quite well as the secretariats communicated any schedule changes early on in the day. The admin staff were also really helpful in keeping an eye on students who were off-tasked. I could see growth throughout the two days from my middle school delegates. They were more eager to speak and ask point of informations. This was rewarding to observe as the purpose of setting up this event was to motivate students to learn more about our world by examining social issues, thinking on solutions, collaborating with one another, and developing their own voice.
ECOSOC committee picture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18_gx9X2NSE4xNNy2KKGqzJ-P75ogaJL9/view?usp=sharing
AIM (CAS Project)—Service
The first semester of AIM has officially ended. I am so grateful to have started this program with Mikayla and Ms. Tina. For our last session on 12/8, we organized a Secret Santa party.
Something I found difficult in the beginning was scheduling my time among AIM, Student Council event preparations, and MUN. To address this, I had to be very communicative with my schedule and needs for each week. I was able to clear some time for opening and closing, which are particularly important because I want to still be present for warm-ups. I find our warm-ups super fun because they are different for each week and allows us to get to know one another in a more creative way.
One of the most rewarding aspects of AIM is the feedback I hear from students and parents. Mikayla, Ms. Tina, and I are assigned a few mentor-mentee pairs to check up on throughout the semester. So far, the feedback I have received is positive and encouraging. The mentees find AIM really helpful in improving their understanding of certain academic subjects. The mentors have also been enjoying their time with their mentees. I think some reasons our AIM sessions have been successful include our mentor training and daily warm-up activities. Mikayla and I host mentor training sessions to provide more materials and resources to them as we understand the importance of keeping each AIM session as interactive as possible.
I still remember being afraid that not a lot of people would want to join AIM, but I am glad to be proven wrong. We have opened our Student Associate applications for next year!
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Golf—Activity
My sister has been playing golf for a while and with some extra time from Winter Break, I went along to practice with her. I used to do some golf, but did not continue because I didn’t have that much time with school. It was important that I warmed up first before starting.
What I could still do:
- hit the ball!
What I need to improve on:
- my position was still a bit off because I haven’t practiced in a long time
- using my torso because I only hit with my arms
- extending my arms so the ball can go farther
I’m still glad that I was able to be active during the holidays.