/Portals/2/logos/__TFMF_nqq2ta453xquvgfqcjaomonw_c0297536-c477-43bf-9f01-d92de2a5a75c_0___Selected.jpg en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 22:36:41 GMT 15 By Neha Kapate and Nisha Sethi ‘14
In early January 2012, Paul Yang, a junior at Montgomery High School, was elected Secretary General of the Model United Nations Conference of 2013. Every year, the Model U.N. club takes its ambitious and excited delegates to a conference at the Hershey Lodge, where they vigorously debate for three consecutive days. The delegates debate over different topics in different committees, in which a chair is the head of all proceedings. But who organizes the whole affair? Next year it will be Paul Yang. The Secretary General not only has the honor to conduct its delegation, but rather all of the delegations that attend the conference. Next year, Paul will decide all matters from the food that is eaten, the topics that are discussed, and the committees that everyone is placed in. Not only does Montgomery take pride in his accomplishments, but also in the eloquent way in which he achieved this - through rounds of debate in front of 2,000 people. In order to understand what this was like, we interviewed Paul to see things from his perspective. Q: Why did you decide to run for Secretary General? A: “I decided to run for secretary general because I really love MUN and I thought why not give it a shot.” Q: What was it like to give your speeches in front of an audience of over 2,000 people? What were you feeling / thinking? A: “If I were to be conceited for a moment, I would like to think that I am fairly confident in public speaking. But 2000 people is actually a lot; you really don’t feel nervous until you stand up there and you look and see, and go “oh my goodness.” I swear my arm was almost numb from shaking. When you get up there though, you just run through what you have to say, and hope you didn’t mess up.” Q: What was it like when they called your name and you won? Were you expecting it at all? A: ”Well, they actually pulled Rachel Naugle, the other finalist, and I aside before the announcement and told us, so the initial shock was over. I wasn’t expecting it, but I certainly was hopeful that I did win. I think a lot of other people were celebrating before I was because it took me a while to actually acknowledge that I had won, and I also felt really, really sorry for the other finalist.” Q: How has the MUN experience affected / changed you overall? A: ”It’s hard to say that there was a specific change. A big thing however, is greater appreciation for listening, even as MUN has developed speaking. It’s hard to debate when you don’t know what someone else is saying, hard to come to a resolution when you don’t listen and respect someone else, and in general it’s hard to be an effective speaker, participant, or leader if you don’t hear out what everybody says.” Q: What is your favorite aspect of MUN and why? A: “MUN is fun, that’s our delegation motto and I have done my best to make it catch on with all the other attendees of the conference too. It is important to develop speaking skills, or to learn about other countries; however none of it will be lasting or meaningful if people are bored, depressed, or unhappy. Whether it’s eating ramen at 2:00 am or writing resolutions authorizing Asian pirates to go in search of western booty, what makes MUN lasting and meaningful is the fact that it is in fact, fun, despite what someone might think about 3 days of debate. Overall, it is evident from his responses that Paul displays a high level of both dedication and admiration towards MUN. Although he has the extremely challenging task of preparing for and presiding over a conference of more than 2,000 delegates, we are confident that he will accomplish this task to the best of his abilities. With a bit less than a year’s worth of planning ahead of him, Paul will be getting closer and closer to his ultimate goal of helping delegates learn about other countries, improve their public speaking skills, and most importantly, enjoy themselves at the conference. Therefore, Montgomery High School would like to wish Paul the best of luck and offer our full support as he embarks on this challenging yet prestigious journey ahead of him.” ]]> Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:47:05 GMT