At the Model United Nations conference held at St Peter's High School, Hyderabad last year, Tarini Arya went as a delegate and was bumped to being a chairperson of a committee. This year, when the MUN was held on October 26, she was the UN Secretary-General and her duties included presiding over the discussions and concluding them with a closing speech. She was thrilled to bits! Because of her keen interest in global issues, this was a golden opportunity for this student of class X. "Only a few students from class X were selected and I was happy I was among them," she says.
On D Day, the youngster truly enjoyed all the discussions that ensued and thought that everyone conducted themselves very diplomatically. "There were newcomers too and they presented their points wonderfully," Tarini recalls. And when it came to the closing speech which she had to deliver, she was well prepared. The 14-year-old read several news articles to get her closing speech right and took the help of the teachers to fine-tune it. "In my speech, I spoke about the huge responsibility the General Assembly has because representatives of so many countries come together to find solutions to major problems," says the Mumbai-born and adds, "I also spoke about how important MUNs are and how they help us connect with others."
Tarini expresses her wish to represent the country at the United Nations conference when she grows up. "Actually, that's what I kept thinking throughout the MUN. That it would be so much better if this was the real deal," she shares. This is because she is passionate about global issues, especially climate change and global peace. Her idol, to no one's surprise, is Greta Thunberg. "It is good to see that children like us are more concerned about issues and are willing to step forward to bring about a change," says the avid reader. She wants to be a journalist when she grows up and hopes that, through her words, she can help bring about change.
What is MUN?
It is an activity where students roleplay as delegates to the United Nations. They talk about global issues which help spread awareness and create conscious citizens of the future
Simple steps to conducting an HMUN
- Decide on leadership structures and positions
- Set up registration or a selection process for it
- Countries, committees and conference topics should be assigned or decided
- Before the event, ensure that all resolutions and speeches are fine-tuned