UBC - Tell us more about one or two activities

Tell us more about one or two actvities listed above that are most important to you. Please explain the role you played and what you learned in the process. (350max)

mun and Christmas party team member

When I decided to become a member of the Model United Nations, I didn't know what to expect nor had any experience. However, while listening to our advisor saying "you have eight minutes to write a speech and share it with the class", feeling completely excited, I knew I took the right decision.

Through my period as a delegate, I obtained a vast amount of knowledge about many global and diplomatic situations. I learned from several countries´ policies in order to represent them and most importantly, the role of dialogues on solving disputes and defining the future of a nation.

I had to demonstrate outstanding communication and leadership skills, persuasive debating speeches and an adequate knowledge of the topic in discussion to convince other delegates and the committee chair about my ideas, while overcoming my fear of public speaking.

Although I experienced many failures and insecurities. My excitement and passion never faded away and kept me going during this great experience that allowed me to live some of the most overwhelming and yet amazing moments.

Another activity of importance for me started when I was invited to be part of the organization team of the Christmas party made each year for the children of the orphanage "Casa Hogar San Antonio".

We began recollecting donations in the form of clothes, books and toys and planning some activities for entertainment. I put into practice my leadership and set my goal to make everything a success.

When the day arrived it all went as a rush - from putting balloons all over the place to choosing the right music. I collaborated in anything that required my help. Serving drinks and food, playing with the kids, painting nails and faces, dancing and laughing.

It wasn´t easy to take care of over twenty children, however, I learned that with a positive attitude and motivation we could make anything work and give those kids a memorable Christmas.

At that special moment, there was no such thing as unfortunate and privilege people. For a moment, we were just a huge family celebrating Christmas and that´s what mattered.

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English in not my first language so if you could help me with my grammar I would really appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

Michell, is there any chance that you still have an activity in your list that is as impressive as your model UN participation? The reason I ask if because you portrayed such an important personal, social, and moral development during your participation in the MUN. When you moved to the orphanage activity, you discussed only being a "helper" of sorts during the activity. It is like you went from the president of the company to a maintenance crew of the same company. The second presentation was a demotion in skills and learning lessons. If you do not have an activity at par with the MUN, I urge you to drop the orphanage activity in the essay. After all, the prompt is asking for "one or two activities" so presenting just one impressive activity, the MUN, will more that sufficiently respond to the prompt. You could even develop that explanation further if you opt to drop the orphanage presentation. What matters is the impression that you make through the activity presentation, not the number of activities. This is a matter of quality over quantity.

@Michell20
I agree with Holt's advice. Your MUN sounds very impressive, and while your experiences volunteering for the orphanage are heartwarming to hear - it doesn't seem to be as impactful as your MUN career.

However, as a fellow student applying to UBC, I empathize with wanting to fill up 2 out of 2 activities. If you truly want to write about the orphanage, I would suggest focusing not just on what you did, but also how your actions directly impacted the children. I would suggest describing why you chose to volunteer with that particular orphanage, and perhaps also mentioning where the donated items would go (Were they donated for the children? Was this orphanage in an impoverished area? Etc, etc).

Hi Michell!
I also agree with Holt and @Lyipheoryia, and I want to add maybe you should connect those two activities that you're proud of. For example, first, you describe the orphanage like @Lyipheoryia suggested and then from that activity you feel the urge to do something good for the world and then you decided to join MUN and from that your passion is formed and you learn a lot of things.

I hope it helps!