With a day full of passionate debate and lighthearted laughter, the closing ceremony marked the end of the 50th THIMUN conference. The day started off just like the last four: a briefing with the other student officers, some quick announcements for the delegates, and clauses with the entire committee. Today, however, was the last of this annual conference. My committee, the Historical Security Council of the Year 1968, was a committee that I am proud to say that I have chaired due to the level of passion and diplomacy the delegates took on. Throughout the past four days, the 30 delegates and Arthur, my president, Davina, my other deputy president, and I have gotten to know each other much better. We could have casual banter, and had a couple of committee inside jokes by the end of the debate. We focused on our last issue throughout the day, which was the "situation in Mexico" in 1968. The entire session flowed smoothly and productively, much like the past four days. With free time at the end, we read out the gossip box filled with notes that had accumulated throughout the last two days, and did superlatives for the delegates with categories like “most likely to join the UN” and “best accent”. The closing ceremony was bittersweet and wrapped up the conference as we listened in on speeches from the committee Presidents, Deputy Secretary Generals (DSGs), and Secretary General (SG). After the final chair debrief, we all said our sad goodbyes, but were hopeful we might see each other again. THIMUN has been a conference where I’ve learned many more chairing skills and their applications, as well as being able to meet so many new people. I couldn’t possibly explain just how many memorable moments have occurred on this trip, it has been a blast!
- Jane Chea
Today was the final day of the 50th annual session of the THIMUN conference, an all the delegates in my committee had a chance to speak. It was also the day many delegates showed their true colours, which sparked controversy, and humour. Sadly, today was also the day the closing ceremony was held, which marked the end of the conference. Today started off with the first resolution on urbanisation, and because of many convincing speeches, the resolution unfortunately failed. We debated three resolutions, two of which had the same fate. Throughout the week, we all managed to become closer socially. As the final day neared, many delegates took the chance to make rather funny but undiplomatic speeches, which surprisingly were sometimes very convincing. The final issue was on food waste, and regardless of the many attempts to get the house to vote against it, it managed to pass. It was great to end the conference on a good note. Overall, the week was great and it was a very good experience for me, as it was my first conference out of Asia, and I got to meet lots of new people from different places and with difference cultures. With roughly 20 minutes left, the chairs read from the gossip box, which contained rather cheesy MUN pickup-lines and jokes, and many amendments as many people mistook the gossip box as a box for amendments. We also exchanged contact information with each other, which was great as we could still continue talking to each other even though many of us might not meet each other in person again. After, we all went to the closing ceremony, which was a bittersweet end to the conference. I was sad, as I knew I won’t be meeting a lot of the friends I made again, as many of them would be graduating and moving on to college or university, or it would be a long time before I would get to see them again, as their schools don’t go to conferences far from their country. However, I was glad to have taken part in this conference. It taught me a lot of new methods of debating, writing speeches, and I am glad to have met so many new people in this conference. No other conference I have attended created this many memorable moments, especially when we would start cheering support for the delegates of the DPRK and Germany when they would go up to make a speech due to their controversial positions. Again, I am very glad to have attended this conference, and I am saddened by the fact that this possibly could be my last THIMUN, but it was a fun trip, and the conference was a blast!
- Ryan Chua
With today being the final day of THIMUN 50, I can gladly say that this conference was one of the best MUN experiences I have ever had. The day began with the last morning student-officer briefing of the conference, with lively debate, just as we had experienced over the past four days, continuing in the Special Conference II. As we got to the end of debate with the final resolution to be debated, my co-presidents and I decided to try something different - we tried to encourage delegates who had not spoken to do so, in order to make the most of their THIMUN experience, by calling for more relaxed and shorter speeches for a short period of time in debate. This was done in order to make delegates feel more comfortable and confident in voicing their stances during debate. With a positive response from both experienced delegates and delegates who had never spoken before, I truly realized the degree of trust and respect that had been developed and fostered in the Special Conference II over the past five days. After debate was over, my co-presidents and I proceeded to read out notes from the Gossip Box that we looked through at lunch, which was very enjoyable for everyone and a great end to a wonderful conference. We then proceeded to the closing ceremony, where we listened to speeches from the Presidents of each committee, the Deputy Secretaries-General, and the Secretary General. Finally, all the student officers attended the final chair debriefing after the closing ceremony. This was a very bittersweet experience, as I had to say goodbye to the friends I had made and spent the past five days with over the course of this conference. However, we all hoped to meet again, whether it be in university, or even in another upcoming conference. Overall, I had an incredible experience at THIMUN this year, from learning how to progress in my chairing skills to making new friends. I had a wonderful time, and I will always remember this experience!
- Stephanie Kannimmel
Today finished off with a bang! Debate was more heated today than it had ever been, with many new delegates making speeches, and regular speakers making very moving and effective speeches, and some Points of Information (POIs) calling out a lot of people. The session today was perhaps not the most productive, but definitely the most entertaining. The World Health Organization (WHO), miraculously managed to gain sovereignty in order to house refugees and the land would be provided by Nicaragua. It was almost a unanimous vote for the amendment, and subsequently the resolution. The World Bank, who sat next to me, also managed to submit about 15 pick-up lines to the Gossip Box, but for some reason, the chairs only read out about one or two of them. As it was the last day of the week and the conference, understandably, many delegates were uneasy, and Morocco, who had been sending “notes” to other delegates throughout the conference, was getting called out a lot in many of the speeches made by new speakers. Among some of the other delegates who were getting called out were; Zambia for many, many reasons, Dominica, simply because he is unintentionally hilarious and sometimes a bit offensive, again unintentionally, France, for simply making some outrageous claims and statements, among which were “refugees don’t remember their home countries.” When the closing ceremony came around, I was sitting with some of my friends, and then the flag parade finally came around, where everything went according to plan apart from when we went further upstage. It really caught me by surprise, as I wasn’t really paying attention, and I was just kind of doing my thing, and suddenly I just see the whole group move forward. Overall, this conference is definitely one of the best, if not the best, that I have ever been to.
- Victor Skjoldby
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