Alicia kim's blog

In February, I traveled to Jeju Island to participate in MUN Conference. It was my first time doing a MUN conference and I was anxious and nervous as it was more formal than I thought it would be. As I was sitting in my spot of the table, I was venturing through all of the materials the directors provided us with. There was a tumbler, post-its, pen, name tag, and the country flag and card. As I sat, trembling my left leg, and looked over my opening speech, I surely thought it would be easy. I thought if I make an opening speech and make a group and be the main submitter of the resolutions, then I would be able to win an award.

I applied for ECOSOC, Economic and Social Council. Our topic was stopping illicit wildlife trafficking. My country was New Zealand on the stance of spreading awareness and taking additional legislations to further prohibit the illegal trafficking of the animals.

Over the course of two days, I was able to interact with other students with other countries and ponder more about the topic along with coming up with effective solutions to put an end to illicit wildlife trafficking. Even though, I weren’t able to do a speech, excluding opening speeches, I was proud of myself for offering a motion near the end. I had nervous butterflies in my stomach when I spoke up for the first time, but I was surprised and satisfied that I was able to speak up at least once.

It helped me explore this section of extracurriculars and figured out whether this was it or not for me. I was also able to gain experience through this meaningful conference. This also gave me what to do for my three years in high school.

Overall, this was an amazing experience that supported my speech and collaboration and critical thinking skills. This also helped identify my likes and dislikes and to venture further into other extracurriculars.