A new event brought to Edison with this year being the first time that Edison has hosted their first ever beginners Model UN conference for students delegates across Queens called InventMUN. This event was hosted by The Edison MUN class and their teachers, Mr. Baker and Mrs. Ragavanis.
Model UN is an on-hands class available to students where students take on a role and debate through those roles. In each conference, there are several different types of Model UN committees available to take part in. In Edison’s InventMUN, students were able to take part in the committees of Grey’s Anatomy, Mayor’s First Day, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
“The students did all of it. We didn’t… This really wasn’t us planning it. In genuinely, this was Justin’s Smiley Carter, Alyssa Canis, Rihanna Qiu, Ayana, Acosta, and Jordan Tapman were the five that spearheaded, that’s not us. Well, they did everything,” said Ms. Ragavanis.
Secretariats Perspective
Justin Smiley Carter was the secretary general, he was the overall leader of the event, he shared his hopes for what success meant for this event.
“I think success for me would look like the delegates leaving differently than when they came in. We created this conference to start a legacy and to start something as MUN14 and leave a legacy behind for the next MUN chapters and for the rest of the school in general. So I want delegates to walk out of here and be passionate for MUN and whoever gets into the MUN courses next year and is passionate about MUN, I want them to carry on and we’ll see the fruits of our labor next year, right,” Carter said.
Rihanna Qiu was the director-general of Committees at InventMUN, she shared her insight on what she had envisioned when creating this conference.
“My vision for this conference is to create a place where people had a person they can look to to guide them while learning and becoming a better version of themselves,” Qiu said.
Alumni Support
Alumni of Edison also came to support the delegates of InventMUN by helping run each committee and sharing their own experience and tips for the attending delegates.
“I think it goes back to what I learned through MUN. And it’s the fact that you guys belong and, you know, take ownership. Your voice matters and make sure that, you know, you’re taking on that responsibility of getting into a room and voicing your opinions and also being genuine about sharing ideas and being receptive to other people’s ideas and making compromise,” Jorandi Rodriguez, a current Columbia student and a former Edison student, said.
Delegates Perspective
Along with Edison students participating in the MUN, there were other schools from Queens that also participated which included: Forest Hills High School, Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences, Queens Gateway, and Archbishop Molloy High School.
Many students described this conference as helping them to gain confidence.
“At first I did not have a place of speech. I didn’t know how to express my words in a sense. I was kind of confused about everything going on because it seemed everybody knew what they were doing and I was kind of lost. But my chairs gave a bunch of feedback and I got way better as the committee went on and I definitely leveled up on my speech, my confidence and my collaborative skills,” said Andres Palmada, a junior at Edison, who was a part of the UNOOSA committee.
“I went into this conference feeling nervous and feeling unprepared, however you do learn a lot from the people that are in your committee and others that have done research and you learn to make alliances and to make even new friends,” said Leanny Luna Diaz, a junior at Edison, who was a part of the UNOOSA committee.
