The CAS Project that I did in my IB Diploma course is hosting the MIS MUN 21-22 Conference as the Deputy Secretary General of the MIS MUN Club. Being one of the leaders of the MIS MUN Club in our school, I investigated not only the need but the strengths that I had as a leader to lead the club and host this significant event. I realized throughout the course of leading the club that I had good organization skills that includes organization of folders and documents that contain essential information required for lessons as well as keeping record of different things that we as a club have achieved over time. I was also mainly responsible for time management in the long-term and short-term. I signaled the club of activities that we were to be doing each week the club gather in preparation for the MIS MUN 21-22. However, I lacked experience and practical knowledge such as reaching out to external communities which are schools that would be participating in the conference.
With these strengths in mind, I shared roles with the Secretary General, Anjali, to clarify the responsibilities and develop a plan of actions to be taken. We started by identifying and noting down the list of things that we had to do such as speaking to our supervisor and contacting the external schools for signups for positions at the conference. We also had to plan a specific date, time and digital platform. We listed these responsibilities prioritizing the initial steps that must be taken to orderly prepare the conference. By looking at the skills that would be required to complete each step, Anjali and I divided the work to maximize efficiency. I was majorly responsible for write-ups such as writing the invite and explanatory e-mails, preparing record documentations, creating a digital certificate, while the Anjali took up more out-spoken roles such as inviting one of our schoolteachers, Ms. Lila, for a welcoming speech and hosting the event overall. Thanks to this division of roles and the Anjali’s completion of her part of the work, I was able to simply concentrate on my responsibilities without being burdened with overwhelming number of things to do, which would have been a huge obstacle in preparing for the conference.
In order to achieve and successfully complete our preparation for the conference, we had to not only thoroughly plan but also ensure that each step was put into action without fail. This involved necessary communications and collaborations not just within the Anjali and I, but also teacher communities from our school, other schools as well as student-leaders from external schools too, which was challenging to follow through. Surely, due to restrictions to keeping the communications virtual, it was difficult to convey most directly and clearly about our requirements and requests. This created confusion and misunderstandings from time to time. However, Anjali and I overcame this through commitment and perseverance to ensure that there was absolute clarity for the smooth running of the conference. We called the leaders and teachers, met with them in person whoever possible, and tried our best to reduce the confusion through frequent communication and a free environment to ask questions. There were situations where we had to make difficult decisions too. For example, on the day of the conference, there was a chair who was confused with the THIMUN procedure. To prevent a sudden halt put to the conference due to this confusion, I made the decision to temporarily step in as the chair and demonstrate the roles of the chair, which helped not only the confused chair to understand but also for the respective committee to run smoothly.
Looking back at the overall process of preparing and participating in the MIS MUN 21-22 Conference, I am proud to reflect that the outcomes are satisfactory with no prominent failure aspects. There were certain struggles in preparing for the conference such as meeting our self-made internal deadlines to safely put up the event, or simultaneously training our chairs and delegates for the conference, as well as recruiting the right students for positions such as chairs and co-chairs, but we were agile enough to overcomes these hardships through modifications of the plan. On a personal level, I have developed in public speaking and contributing to putting up a huge event such as this conference which let me know the importance of open-mindedness and agility.
The information and knowledge that I attained throughout the course of preparing and putting into action this essential project is of great value to me, but what really gives me personal meaning to this project is that I have gone through this entire experience. I did not give up nor be devastated when faced with challenges. Thanks to all teachers, Ms. Jodi, Ms. Anjali, Ms. Lila and more, from our schools as well as external schools, chairs, and co-chairs, and lastly my reliable cooperator, Anjali, I was greatly supported with the necessary help which is what kept me going with organizing the conference. Upon such realizations, I took further action to convey some skills and knowledge earned through this project to next year’s MIS MUN Clubs for improvement and development in the quality of the conferences to be held in the upcoming years. This would be my last meaningful contribution to MIS MUN Club and conference which I had been a part of for the past 3 years.
