Burr and Burton Academy is a high school in Manchester, Vermont, with a MUN delegation that Best Delegate named one of North America’s best in 2016. Best Delegate sat down with BBA MUN coach Kendra LaRoche to ask her a few questions about MUN and how she runs her program.
What do you feel is most important in effectively leading a Model UN program?
Most conferences call us ‘advisors’. I am not an advisor; I am a coach. I approach my MUN team the same way an athletic coach interacts with their team. We practice frequently, we push each other, knowing it will make us better, we do team building, and I insist on holding students to a high standard. In addition, leading a MUN program traverses the spectrum from academic to emotional, to psychological. MUN conferences are times of high anxiety, and my team produces better work for me knowing that I am going to be there for them when they are struggling.
What advice would you give other coaches who are starting out and don’t necessarily know how to familiarize students with MUN?
The first several years I coached the MUN team, much of my work was trial and error. It was only through the process of attending numerous conferences with my team that I realized what good MUN looked like. At first I focused solely on research, thinking that if the delegates knew what they were talking about, they would do well. Next I focused them on public speaking. At conferences I started to realize that while my team had great ideas and communicated them well during moderated caucuses, they didn’t know how to lead and got lost during unmods. I now spend much of my time teaching the soft skills necessary to lead. In order to to this, I must have consistent, authentic practice. We hold committee sessions three days a week. I chair the committees and frequently interrupt the session to discuss the soft skills students are using, or should be using, so they will develop an eye for opportunities. They push each other, vying to be the ones to introduce working papers, while also recognizing that they are a team and when it comes to conferences, we work for, not against, each other.
I also hold a high moral standard for my delegates. After years of attending conferences, I recognize that strong schools have reputations associated with them. I am thoughtful about our own reputation and want to ensure that we are seen as great facilitators, not as power-hungry delegates. In that light, we actively practice diminishing the power of delegates who don’t listen to others in the group in favor of a more collaborative approach.
What additional advice would you give to coaches and/or delegations in more rural places with less conferences and less general MUN activity in their area?
We have never attended a conference in our own state. We attempted to host a conference for other high schools and junior highs to try to increase interest in Vermont, however, we have not had any luck in attaining the interest of other schools. Instead, we understand that we must travel. We go to five conferences a year. Two of the conferences everyone on the team is required to attend, giving us large delegation status and a chance to bond as a team. The other three are optional and are often attended by only our most committed delegates. In addition, we choose our conferences carefully. Our first conference needs to be friendly to new delegates, being less competitive with a focus on collaboration. As we move into the second semester, our conference schedule increases competitiveness. I continue to seek out conferences that value collaboration not just in their mission statement, but in their awards as well.
How can an advisor get and keep students interested in MUN?
It is essential to brand your program and yourself. The reputation of the program will do its own advertising for you. We started small, with a handful of committed individuals. As we found success, others wanted to be a part of it. I intentionally limit our size so that students feel like they earn a spot on our team and therefore it increases their sense of belonging.
How does MUN enrich the lives of students who participate (i.e. why should they do it)?
The most important skills students can learn in high school are leadership skills, and yet very few classes intentionally teach these skills. In Model UN we microscopically examine these soft skills so we can recognize them in others and use them on command. They graduate from the MUN program with a toolbelt to use in any collaborative endeavor.
Mrs. LaRoche also provided some quotes from her delegation about their experiences with MUN at Burr and Burton.
“The best skill she taught me wasn’t to be the best delegate, but to be my best delegate.” (Kevin Dernier, class of 2018)
“MUN taught me how to speak confidently and gave me a global education that no class could give me. The best thing about having Kendra as a coach was that she was also our friend and our mentor. She knew when to be hard on us and when to give us a hug. MUN and her style of teaching challenged how I thought and taught me to work hard.” (CeCe Szkutak, class of 2018)
“Model UN has built up my confidence levels immensely … MUN is so much more than just public speaking skills and awards. It creates a space for students to think critically and collaboratively about how to problem solve and, when the rules and toolkit skills of Model UN are taught in the right way, this extracurricular is the key, in my opinion, to fostering world change through the building of thoughtful, passionate, and empathetic leaders.” (Trinity Delano, class of 2019)
“Whenever I talk about Kendra’s merits as a leader to other people I always mention one thing; she knows how to push us. I remember countless times when I felt like committee was absolutely hopeless and I talked to Kendra. She would let me wallow for a few minutes and then tell us it was time to problem solve. She never let us give up; giving up wasn’t even allowed to be in our vocabulary … She creates a warm, inclusive environment where I feel comfortable to fail in. I’m never afraid to fail because she’s there to catch me when I fall. It’s okay if we get killed in crisis or lose our blocs; we have her support as long as we’re trying our hardest.” (Zoie Brooks, class of 2019)
“[Mrs. LaRoche] pushes her students by consistently taking them far outside their comfort zones and never shies away from promoting accountability and integrity.” (Zane Zupan, class of 2020)
“While MUN does teach you about world issues and critical thinking, it also teaches you how interact with people. I have found that MUN has handedly fixed almost every social anxiety issue that I’ve ever experienced, just because you have to talk to so many people that you have never met before. It’s crazy how I can see the effect that MUN has had on my day to day life; I notice I’m not as nervous for job interviews anymore and I can interact with professional people in a mature way. I’ve learned how to express my opinions in a sophisticated fashion and respect the opinions of other people, even when they are wildly different than my own.” (Katelyn Hemmer, class of 2020)