GCAMUN holds first mock conference

The students that joined the Grace Christian Academy Model United Nation pose after their first mock MUN conference last Friday, Feb. 5, in preparation for the first official regional Northern Mariana Islands MUN conference on March 1 and 2. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The Northern Marianas Island Model United Nations, along with Grace Christian Academy Model United Nations, held their first mock MUN conference last Friday, Feb. 5, in preparation for the first official regional NMIMUN conference on March 1 and 2 that will have the students participating in a debate to solve global issues following United Nations’ procedures.

According to NMIMUN president Eileen No, who is a student at Saipan International School, the NMIMUN’s first mock conference topic was capital punishment, and this will help participating students prepare for the competition next month.

The NMIMUN will have another mock conference today, Feb. 10, at the Saipan International School, similar to the one they had last Friday.

MUN first started in the CNMI three years ago. The SIS MUN group then went around the island in mid-2020 to spread and teach Model United Nations to both middle and high schools, including GCA, Mount Carmel School, Marianas High School, Seventh-Day Adventist, Green Meadow School, Northern Marianas International School, and Saipan Community School.

The group hopes to educate all CNMI schools of MUN procedure and the skills required to participate in the islandwide competition this March 1 and 2. According to No, GCA has been one of the strong leading schools participating in MUN.

According to No, GCAMUN adviser Grace Duran introduced MUN to the GCA students in hopes of providing the students a global perspective and necessary skills such as research and public speaking.

MUN is an educational organization that creates globalism and gives students a chance to gain further knowledge about different countries’ political and economic policies. This is a global educational organization that attracts representative students from all around the world and is recognized for its ability to enhance students’ teamwork and debate skills, and it is also definitely one of the well-known extracurricular activities colleges think highly of.

In MUN, the students act as representatives of countries around the world and participate in a debate to solve global issues following United Nations’ procedures.

When GCA students asked why they joined the GCAMUN, sophomore Anthony Deleon Guerrero said he wants to gain personal confidence in himself, so that he can have a better time talking to new people. “I think of MUN is giving us an idea of what we can expect in the real world and prepare us to come up with solutions,” he said.

GCA freshman Akira Ota said she wants to be better at public speaking and be more confident in front of people.

Sofia Gomez, a 6th grader, said that while MUN was scary at first, it turned out to be much more fun because of all the activities they do in class.

There are 11 other MUN teams around the island with over 120 students preparing to participate in the first official regional NMIMUN conference in March.