What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
I have always been talkative. Even as a child, I was always that one kid who would get in trouble for talking excessively. At the time, I didn’t realize that this is my greatest attribute: communication. I never thought too much of this “skill” until I decided to join Model United Nations (MUN).
I wanted a way to verbally express myself, and MUN was the perfect outlet. Though I loved to talk to my friends and family on a casual level, after joining MUN I realized that I still had a lot of room to improve on my public speaking skills. Luckily I was able to refine this ability after a year of researching international topics, practicing speeches, and going to novice conferences where I experienced a growth in both my confidence and public speaking skills.
This initial practice as a freshman helped me blossom as I headed into my sophomore and junior year. I began to go to more advanced conferences, where I learned to interact with people from different backgrounds. The communication skills through MUN not only granted me several opportunities to compete at conferences in colleges such as UC Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara, and Berkeley but it gave me a once in a lifetime opportunity to compete in the National High School MUN conference in New York where my team was the only school to have received both a delegation and research award out of the hundreds of schools that came to compete. Though I was fortunate enough to have gotten awards, gavels, and the position of Under Secretary General of Conferences through this program, I am more grateful for the communication skills that I have garnered, whether it be in MUN or my future career.
The growth in communication and public speaking through MUN I’ve had from my freshmen to senior year have been exponential. From Job interviews, to working with patients, communication is the basis for the professional world. Though I initially thought communication was trivial, I now see that I will use this skill as an asset for the rest of my life.