Meet the staff of CalsMUN 2020 that are working hard on making the 5th edition of the conference a success!
Read all about them here!
Selin Gürses
Secretary General Best MUN experience:
When in 2018, CalsMUN raised 150 euros for ‘The Ocean Cleanup’, a project to clear the ocean from plastics. Favourite historical figure: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, since his music helps me study and hopefully even graduate! I’m not great at advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment? Chandler Muriel Bing |
Carmen Wolters
Deputy Secretary General Best MUN experience:
Being Australia in the UNEP. Some advice: do not bring up that you lost a war to emus. Will bring down your credibility quite a lot. Favourite historical figure: Queen Elizabeth I Nothing happens until something moves. Albert Einstein |
Donna den Breejen
Deputy Secretary General Best MUN experience:
Last year I had the honour to represent DPRK and it was amazing. Especially in the plenary session when in the end I made Russia speechless because he could not handle my reactions. Favourite historical figure: Definitely Elvis Presley. The king of Rock and Roll made a big influence in music back then. He dared to think and act outside the box and made it more acceptable. He achieved that he is still remembered today. People think you’re crazy if you talk about things they don’t understand. |
Emma van Vliet
Conference Manager |
Steven Hoogwout
Conference Manager |
Laura Lai
Conference Manager |
Best MUN experience:
When you have been doing MUN for a couple of years, it becomes hard to weigh the one conference up against the other. But let’s be real, being the president of the Geneva Council and roasting Cuba as a punishment was absolutely incredible, and nothing compares. Favourite historical figure: Vincent van Gogh. To this day, he remains to be one of the most interesting people I have read about. Naturally his art is out of this world, but I’ve always found it peculiar how we know so much about the life of a man who lived in poverty and only sold a single painting - or so they say. See? There are still faint glimmers of civilisation left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed, that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant... Oh, f*ck it. Monsieur Gustave |
Best MUN experience:
As China in the Security Council, watching the Western world order collapse in on itself due to one lackluster resolution after another. The whole ordeal helped me relate to Xi Jinping just that bit more. Favourite historical figure: Emperor Puyi, the last monarch of the Qing dynasty! He was crowned at the age of two, and deposed only four years later by the Xinhai revolution. He was installed by the Japanese as the puppet ruler of Manchuria, yet he ended his life as a gardner under the Communist regime. Puyi’s eventful life perfectly underscores the turbulent nature of history. GODS I WAS STRONG THEN Robert Baratheon, alias “Bobby B” |
Best MUN experience:
My favourite MUN experience was during my second MUN, this was the first time I had a plenary session and I was so nervous to give a speech, but I did it anyways and I felt kind of proud of myself. Favourite historical figure: Aletta Jacobs. She devoted her whole life to equal rights for women in the Netherlands. She was also the first female doctor in The Netherlands and because of her women got the right to vote. No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world. Robin Williams |
Best MUN experience:
When I had proven Mitchell wrong during the HC. Favourite historical figure: Wright Brothers, because they thought: Hey, let’s fly. And they actually did it. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. Winston Churchill |
Best MUN experience:
I have been granted with unmatched opportunities to attain MUN’s where this year’s CALSMUN will certainly be the best of them all. Not so long ago these opportunities were not there, for anybody. However, if I have to decide on what my best MUN experience is, it most definitely is the week where I went to attend KARMUN in Budapest with my lovely friends and more specifically the debate on how inferior the Dutch language is, or not. Favourite historical figure: Willem van Oranje If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said they wanted faster horses. Henry Ford |
Best MUN experience:
It probably has to be in last year’s CalsMUN. Teaming up with DPRK and arguing against the whole committee as Russia was definitely the most memorable. Favourite historical figure: Definitely, Emmeline Pankhurst, that woman paved our way to equal right to vote. Of all possessions wisdom is alone immortal. Isocrates |
Best MUN experience:
I very much enjoyed KARMUN, a MUN in Budapest, which I attended at the beginning of this year as a chair of the amazing Crisis Committee. Favourite historical figure: Catherine II also known as Catherine the Great, former Empress of Russia whose reign is now known as the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. She also state financed the first institute of higher education for women. Qu’ils mangent de la brioche! (Let them eat cake) Marie Antoinette |
Best MUN experience:
My favourite MUN to have been part of is still my first ever CalsMUN in 2017. I had such an amazing committee and met some very cool people. Favourite historical figure: To me Kurt Cobain is probably one of the coolest artists to have ever existed. As a music lover I obviously love him for his great influences in the music industry, but it is mainly very inspiring to see how he used his fame and music to pursue important topics such as depression and feminism to be discussed. Gucci, sue me, bro. Jake Paul |
Best MUN experience:
This has got to be CalsMUN 2019, when I got into a secret "relationship" with the Russia delegation while representing Canada and still managing to win Best Delegate. Favourite historical figure: Dr. James Miranda Barry, the first female doctor in the UK. She practiced medicine 50 years before women were allowed to by dressing as a man for most of her life while she attended university and then proceeded to serve in the British Army. Only when she died, did people discover her secret. Think global, act local, and behave accordingly individual. |
Best MUN experience:
At the last CalsMUN I was in the Human Rights Council and I met many new people. We laughed a lot, had interesting debates and I became best delegate. Favourite historical figure: Antigone, daughter of Oedipus. Grey's Anatomy, season 5, episode 6, 3:12. |
Best MUN experience:
My most recent en memorable experience will have to be chairing the HRC for CalsMUN 2019. This was my first time chairing and I was asked last-minute, so I was pretty stressed out. Luckily, I had an amazing co-chair and very funny and enthousiastic delegates who made this weekend an unforgettable one. Favourite historical figure: Helen Keller, blind and deaf author, political activist, and lecturer. When she was only 1 years old, Helen Keller suffered from meningitis and turned blind and deaf. Her teacher Anne Sulivan taught her to read, write, and even speak. There is only one thing we say to death: not today. Syrio Forel (Game of Thrones) |
Best MUN experience:
Every MUN I have attended was an amazing experience, because I have met so many new people from all around the world and debated them on important issues. However, two of my best MUN experiences are walking through the McDrive at 2 a.m. and climbing through a window to get into the hotel at LEMUN 2017 and making light bulb related puns together with a friend during CalsMUN 2018. Favourite historical figure: Marcus Tullius Cicero Praeterita mutare non possumus, sed futura providere debemos. Marcus Tullius Cicero |
Best MUN experience:
I think the most amazing part of an MUN is getting to know people from all around the world. I experienced some unforgettable evenings while housing delegates, containing Turkish desserts and Spanish dances. Favourite historical figure: Marcus Antonius Each day is the scholar of yesterday. Publilius Syrus |
Best MUN experience:
Attending KarMUN 2019 in the city of Budapest with 4 of my close friends. The city was great, my friends were great, and most of all, the MUN was great! I truly could not have wished for a better week, and to top it all of: after one specific speech I delivered on the refugee problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina, my chair sent me a note praising me for my performance about how I’d perfectly represented the values and ideals of Canada, the nation I was representing. A+ confidence boost. Favourite historical person: Michelle Obama. I recognise she is (luckily) very much still alive, however, I absolutely adore and admire her and I solemnly believe she will go down in history as the amazing, powerful woman she is. To me that counts. My love for her outgrows the rules set up for these pieces of text. Great minds think alike. |
Best MUN experience:
Being part of the press team for 2019’s CalsMUN was an unforgettable experience. Not only taking pictures of the delegates, chairs and committees kept me busy during that weekend, but at CalsMUN I have also made new friends and I have gained a lot more confidence with my photography. Favourite historical figure: Stephen Hawking. His perseverance as well as his knowledge is truly inspiring. He showed the world that you can do anything as long as you work hard enough for it. Great minds think alike. |
Best MUN experience:
I was appointed to be secretary general of CalsMUN last year. This was my biggest achievement and I learned so much during the organising of the event, but above all, the people I met. MUN to me is all about meeting people and as a secretary general I got to do this a lot. Favourite historical figure: Emperor August. He was the first emperor of the Roman republic after it had been an empire. He single handedly changed the entire society. I learned this doing my Final Paper. It is what it is. |
Our MUN director Amy Sofogiannis has guided enthousiastic Cals students through 4 MUN's already. This year she will be helping us again for the grand 5th anniversary. Miss Sofogiannis teaches English at Cals College Nieuwegein and takes care of all the MUN related activities. She is truly the heart of CalsMUN.
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