By Susanna Chen, International Bilingual School at Hsinchu & Ho June Chun, International School of Ho Chi Minh City 

After a long night of drinking can after can of Red Bull, forcing weary eyes to open with wooden toothpicks, and slurping noodles from a Styrofoam bowl, it is finally time to shine. The podium is now open. You waltz your way up and present your polished resolution to the sea of brilliant faces seated before you.

For most main-submitters, the toughest thing to do at MUN is to write a well thought-out speech with new peers from a variety of backgrounds. One of the main-submitters of GA5, Jook Tan (Hwa Chong Institution), the delegate of Saudi Arabia, commented, “I think the hardest thing to do is to coordinate everyone during discussion and compile all problems into a consolidated one. It is difficult to account for everyone’s opinions as well.” Similarly, a main-submitter of GA6, Fergus Tollerves (Taipei European School), the delegate of Italy, mentioned that “water-proofing the resolution against future arguments” is also considered extremely tough.

A few interviewees also shared a similar tip for future main-submitters. The GA5 delegates of USA and Portugal, Kylie Tora Basuki Liu (Hwa Chong Institution) and Yu Jin Oh (Daewon Foreign Language School), fervently expressed that being “practical, realistic, and concise” is essential when writing resolutions.

The delegate of Italy, Fevgas Tollerveg (European School), one of the most successful main submitters of General Assembly 5 notes, “Our resolution is about enabling international cooperation against the world drug problem. Lobbying, for me, is always the hardest part, and putting the resolution together took a lot of work. However, with the delegate of Indonesia as my main co-submitter, we managed to coordinate an effective defense when the debate came around. In the end, it passed 70 for, 15 against.”

Not all the resolutions pass. However, every single one of them is meaningful as they only exist after days of hard work by numerous delegates.  So be proud of your resolution and pat yourself on the back for attempting to make a change at THIMUN Singapore 2011.