After the audition for next year’s three Model UN officers, Shayaan Dutt, Aaron Zhang, and Eva Sonis were chosen. As the secretary general, under secretary, and chief of staff, they will lead and teach next year’s MUN.

Rachel Carson MUN students were auditioned at Rachel Carson Middle School, April 10, for the chance to be one of three officers for next year’s MUN team.

“It is based on the real United Nations,” said Mr. Brian Corman, a teacher of the RCMS MUN. “They attend conferences and speak to represent a country that they are given and solve the country’s problem or maybe a global problem like global warming or the pandemic.”

In MUN, you attend conferences that are held at high schools and colleges like George Washington University and Thomas Jefferson High School. The conferences assign each of the delegates a country, some delegates are alone or paired with another delegate. They are on a committee that mirrors what the actual UN does.

Once they finish researching and solving their country’s problem, they are to speak in front of the committee as if they are representing that country and explain their solution to the other delegates. They can also win awards on their problem solving and their speaking skills.

Getting the gavel award is the highest award you can get in a committee and there are two other awards that than the gavel called “outstanding delegate” and “verbal” awards

“A delegate is where you are just attending a conference representing the club,” said Mr. Corman. “An officer not only attends the conference, but also runs the practice meetings that are held in the school.”

When an officer is picked, they can also be assigned titles like “secretary general” which is the highest title, the lead person in the club, “under secretary” is an assistant for the secretary general, and the “chief of staff.”  However, despite having different titles,  they share similar responsibilities as any other officer.

“I wanted to become an officer because I thought it would help me advance my skills, ” said Shayaan, the new secretary general officer of the RCMS MUN. “I also wanted to be an officer because I want to help others enhance their skills so that they can become great leaders as well.”

In order to become an officer, you need to have experience, you need to have attended at least three conferences during the whole year, and they also must be good at MUN. Furthermore, they need to get interviewed and get chosen by the officers and a few of the eighth-grade senior members (eighth-graders that were in MUN when they were in seventh grade) in the audition.

“I felt pretty nervous since there were a lot of people at the audition,” said Eva, the new chief of staff officer for next year. “However, I feel confident since I had previous experience and I prepared a lot for the interview.”

Everyone who wanted to audition for the officer position went to a separate room where they waited outside the room. Then, one by one, they were called into the room where they were interviewed. Then, on May 1, the results came out.

“I was very excited because there were a lot of good MUN delegates,” said Aaron, the new under secretary general officer for next year. “I thought I wouldn’t stand a chance against them, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the officers and eighth-grade seniors chose me as the under secretary general officer.”

After the results came out, the chosen officers were congratulated and everyone who tried out was thanked for trying out for the audition.

“For next year, I want to guide the new seventh-graders better than what happened this year,” Aaron said. “I also want to give them the necessary help that they need to be good at MUN.”