Secretary General Interview

Isabella Jokela has been participating in IASAS MUN since freshman year. Now, in her senior year at ISKL and her last definitive MUN in high school, she has managed to climb up the ranks to the role of Secretary General for IASAS MUN 2019. Eloquent, diplomatic, passionate, and always open to new ideas, one cannot find a better candidate for the position of Secretary General. Below, is an interview we managed to get in between the busy schedule she had for the past three days.

Interviewer: It’s Day Three, and you’re almost done with the conference. How have you been feeling so far?

Secretary General: I genuinely— it’s a weird feeling. It’s a but surreal for me. This is my fourth IASAS MUN and i’ve been coming to this conference since my freshman year, and I’ve had different experiences with it. I’ve had experiences of growth. I’ve had experiences of finding long-lasting friends. I’ve made a bunch of my high school memories at this conference, or in the preparation or after this conference, and the idea that today will be the last day I’ll be going to it, is surreal in the sense that… I can’t believe that six months of work has culminated into this and two days have already gone from this, so we’ll definitely know later how I feel.

Interviewer: Okay, great! I’ll- I’ll be sure to check up on you, then. So as a Press Team member, I’ve been running around and sometimes seeing how things go out of control and whatnot. How have you been handling these situations?

Secretary General: I definitely think communication is key, in the sense that when you communicate, people all understand what page you’re on and what’s happening. And I think that when mishaps like that happen, and there definitely have been some, it’s a break in communication. Because people form their own narratives and their own ideas on what happens around them, so then whatever way they perceive someone’s attention can be very skewed. So when one person communicates to another person, after they believe one thing, what can happen is that there can be confrontation, there can be conflict there because they don’t see the same idea or same path to follow. And, instead they see someone as a tree trunk on the path of their life or their conference experience. So, I think communication is key and that’s how you avoid some really, major, major mishaps.

Interviewer: Speaking of communication is key, how do you think the communication is going with you and the rest of the Secretariat, with the chairs and the rest of the delegates?

Secretary General: I think communications going pretty well. I’ve really tried to create a lot of, really centralised communication with the different groups I’ve got to contact always. So I have communication with all the pages, and actually also help each other, because they have a group chat. So, what happens is, they might have a question I can’t attend to immediately and another one of them knows what’s actually happening. So, they actually help each other and figure out their roles. I have the same for chairs, and they would help communicate the issues of each committee as well. So let’s say a committee didn’t have a power strip, or they needed something specific, or they need a guest speaker, or something else is going wrong. That could also be addressed immediately there, and I could reply and they’d show up, as they come. And, then, communication amongst the Secretariat. I’ve really tried to delegate roles to each one, so they don’t spread themselves too thin. So, instead we all have a general consensus on, what are we each individually doing and what are we doing as a group.

Interviewer: And, speaking of the Secretariat. You know, you guys have been working on this for six months, and you’ve grown pretty close, I assume. What has your experience been working with them and you relationship with them. And with the advisers, too.

Secretary General: I love my advisors! They are really great, Mr. Hengstler and Mr. Martin. They have definitely been so supportive of all the ideas we throw at them. And, also Mr. Naughton, who is not an advisor but, he’s head of Athletics and Activities, and he has been doing such an awesome job of really catering to our needs. Like, if we have requested something from him, wether it’s 500 notepads or extra pens or something, he makes sure that we got it so we could have the conference running so smoothly. And, then, my experience with the Secretariat is that, we’ve definitely grown closer. Mainly from our morning meets, we’d each get to school before seven, and we’d be here working, almost like a sports morning practice. And, I think we work pretty well together, we have a sort os system going. Everyone sort of knows what their best at, what their strengths and weakness are. We definitely work well together.

Interviewer: As you said before, it’s your last MUN conference. Do you have any advice to any future Secretary Generals or any future delegates?

Secretary General: I’ll start with delegates. Delegates, should really, really, grasp all the opportunities they get at a conference. You don’t get to go to too many of these in your high school experience or in your life time. And, when you do, they’re really amazing opportunities to not only meet new people, learn new ideas, grow as a person, but also, develop yourself in ways outside of the classroom. And, benefit the future of the world! Who knows, a former MUN delegate might actually end up in the UN.

And for future Secretary Generals, I’ve got this advice from another Secretary General I know of another conference. They said flex your autocratic control. Basically, that means your standards are going to be the highest of the group. So, whenever you delegate off, that means that you can go back and check through it and you can place a higher standard to your fitting. Because as you delegate down, the quality of it and the passion of it won’t be the same as you feel. So be passionate, and really follow up and honestly use your power. You have it and you want an awesome conference and someone can’t hold that against you.

Interviewer: Awesome! Any final words? (another Press Team member: any quotable quotes?) Yeah, any memorable memories?

Secretary General: Memorable memories, quotable quotes, quite the alliteration we have going on here at the Press Team. I would say, as our theme is, reach for 2030. Really, with the way the news is— and as someone who consistently reads the news— the world can seem dark at times and you can get quite pessimistic. But, we should be is realistic optimists. In that, you look for hope and you look for a better future, and you also see the reality in it and you try and do something. And you hear the voices of those who you are helping. You are not simply going in there and thinking. “oh a billion dollars is going to solve something”, instead, “what do they need for that billion dollars “.

Interviewer: Awesome! Well, congratulations on your fourth and final IASAS MUN. You climbed up the ranks and as a friend, I’m very proud of you—

Secretary General: (laugh)

Interviewer:— But okay, Bye!

Secretary General: Bye and thank you!