How to start your own MUN
Not to discourage you, but I hope you understand that it will be a lot of work.
Now, with that out of the way...
1. Faculty Sponsor
If you don't have a teacher to sponsor the club, you don't have a club. Get one. Any teacher will do, but there are a few things in particular you may want to look for.a. Someone who can/will stay after school at least once a week. b. Someone who the students like. c. A history or civics teacher, who may offer extra credit for going to MUN Conferences.
2. Members
Tell your friends about MUN and try to get people interested. Set a goal of recruits Maybe 5-10 but the more the better. Also ask teachers (especially History) to mention the meetings in class.
3. Funding
Start thinking of fund raisers to do. MUN is very expensive. When I was in HS we did fund raisers to pay part of the costs and the rest was from our own pockets. If you're old enough and you are aloud, get a job if you do not already have one. Try to save some of your money just for MUN trips. Traditional fund raisers include car washes, bake sales, etc. Once you have an established, experienced, and fairly large club you can start hosting your own conferenes. That's where the real money's at. Start small, host a Middle School conference first; for 8th graders and only charge $5 to cover your own costs. This will give your club experience and will encourage rising 9th graders to join when they get to HS. This is how I was introduced.
4. Introducing
Since your school doesn't have an MUN club, most people including teachers, & faculty probably don't know what it is. In order to gain interest & support it will be your job and whom ever you recruit to tell them about MUN. This means, of course, you have to find out about it yourself. Check out the UNA-USA website Also read: Background Papers (This is what you receive from the host school of conf. you go to that briefly explains the topics.) Position Papers (This is a country's writen position on the topics being discussed in their choosen committee.) Working Papers, Draft Resolutions, & Resolutions (These words discribe the same thing only in its different stages. This is the UN solution to world problems.)
5. Conferences
Find out what conferences you would like to attend.
Conferences for high school students are hosted by other high schools and by colleges. The benefit of going to one hosted by a high school is proximity & low cost. The benefit of going to a college conference, is that it is usually run better and offers more choices of committees. You will need to find out dates, how far it is & how you might get there & how much transportation will cost, do you need to stay in a hotel & how much that will cost, and how much the actual conference will cost. (The cost usually includes a registration fee, plus delegate fees & sometimes sponsor fee) (delegate fees are how much you pay per student attending) You will also need to find out when the registration deadline is, and any other stipulations of that particular conference. Example: Most conferences allow a school to represent as many different countries as the like, others mandate that you represent that country in all the committees that it is in. You may want to stay away from conferences like that because it may be hard getting everyone to agree on the same country. Also that would mean there's a minimum number of delegates per country. A small country may have a minimum of 6 while the US has a min. of 12.
6. Setup
Once you have a sponsor & people interested you need to find out your school's rules for setting up a new club. Do what ever
paperwork is neccesary and have an organizational meeting. Have announcements, flyers, posters, etc. 2 weeks prior to the initial meeting. See if you can serve refreshments, and mention that in the announcements this will really help. One thing that is often required by a school is a club constitution.
7. Constitution
The WVSCMUN Constitution was modeled after the WVSC Student Government Association Constitution. You may want to use it as a guideline, or your own school's SGA or SCA constitution. Later on I will have an online copy of the Gar-Field HS MUN Constitution I wrote when I was there.
8. Advertising
Try to get the school newspaper to write an article about this new club starting up. Be sure to give a brief discription and list your name and the sponsors name, along with how to contact you and the sponsor. Also give the date & time of the organizational meeting.
This page was written on Thursday 8 July 1999. By Susan Scott, it is just a draft and will be edited and added upon soon.
To receive more information, email Susan Scott.
When you email be sure to explain what stage you are at, and what specific information and help you need.
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