MUN Section Internationale Lycée

Dear Miss Roche, I had this idea of creating a MUN club in the high school….”. As I sent my email little did I know that I would soon embark on an exciting journey. As a teenager, I had always had a profound interest in the different relations between countries. Whether it was about trying to find a peace treaty or making trade agreements, I always found this world truly fascinating.

My interest was sparked when I came across and watched the historic speech made by Dominique de Villepin in 2003  at the UN convention in New York where he said no - and presented the arguments against France‘s military involvement in Iraq, a speech and a stance that would make history. Afterwards, I realized the importance of international institutions and the words spoken inside them could have a huge international impact. That’s

when I was drawn by this institution and its role in international relations.

I then came across the concept of MUN, a simulation of the United Nations. The idea of debating about different geopolitical conflicts was so appealing that I became so focused on the idea of creating an MUN club that I brought the idea to Miss Roche. From there, my best friend, Elisabeth joined the project since she had some previous  MUN experience.

So what did this MUN journey look like in Bellevue ?

Let's begin by figuring out what MUN is: It is a club run by students for students, to put students in the challenging position of diplomates.

Starting this club was a big leap in the dark. Although I had already participated in an MUN Club before as a delegate Eva and I were taking up the roles of chairs which meant we would have to start from zero. That summer we started having study dates where we would learn as much as we could about MUN while also trying to find conferences and school partners all over France. Once we felt we had an understanding of MUN we then had the task to plan out the weekly MUN  sessions, creating slideshow presentations with various videos and games to help the delegates become more persuasive, and confident and understand the fundamentals of debating.

 When the club first started and particularly during the early debates some students had to go against their moral beliefs because of the country they had been assigned. As you can imagine tensions were often heated however the students soon learned that to understand a problem it's important to see all sides. As the year went on we developed critical thinking abilities that are useful in our everyday life. Confidence is a key factor in  MUN.  Delegates become more confident and comfortable talking to a group. Sometimes playing the theme tune of Succession did this! On the topic of music the delegates learned to use the musicality in their voice to be more persuasive to convince delegates to follow them. Through debates about journalism and cybersecurity, we had a better understanding of conflicts in certain parts of the world.

We are immensely grateful for all the help we received at Bellevue from Miss.Roche our adult representative and Mr.Bernard our high school principal. They have both been instrumental in helping us find conferences to participate in. Their support and encouragement gave us the momentum we needed to move forward.We would love for as many other students to experience what we have at MUN. If you are interested in becoming a delegate or wish to improve any of the points mentioned above you should support your local mun club at Bellevue!

Eva Aydin,  President

Elisabeth Rafat, Co-President