When I was in the fifth grade, the dynamic duo Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen starred in Winning London, a movie of epic proportions featuring the twins competing in an international Model United Nations conference. After watching, I proudly told my mother, “I’m going to do that someday!”

Flash forward to my freshman year at Aquinas College, calling my mother to excitedly tell her that Aquinas had a Model United Nations team, but lamenting how many credits I would be carrying should I take it. My no-nonsense mother immediately declared that it didn’t matter how many credits I would be taking—I had to have my Mary-Kate and Ashley moment.

Throughout my time at Aquinas, I represented the Republic of Croatia, the Russian Federation and the French Republic. I explored social issues in the General Assembly Third Committee and worked against the crisis clock in the Contemporary Security Council, but there was a common thread: I loved Model United Nations and AMUN in particular.

Someone I now consider a good friend handed me a staff application, and I spent my last year of college on the AMUN Secretariat. I loved experiencing the conference from a different perspective, learning more about how a conference as large and well-run as ours functions, as well as getting to know my fellow staffers.

Five years later, I don’t know where I would be without AMUN. Staffers have become like family and have helped open career doors otherwise closed to me. I’m able to walk through those doors using the skills I’ve gained from staff: public speaking; professional communication; research and writing; teamwork; in-depth international knowledge—just to name a few.

Additionally, AMUN is just fun. And being on staff at AMUN is a different kind of fun from that of being a Representative. As with any Model UN experience, you spend a highly-compressed  amount of time with a bunch of humans whom you’ve never met before doing something you love. When you join the AMUN staff, those humans you don’t know become humans you care about a lot. The thrill one gets from helping a representative figure out the inner workings of a report in the Human Rights Council or of broaching the idea of joining the Secretariat with a productive and helpful participant is unparalleled.

If you’ve ever thought about how much you’ll miss AMUN upon graduation, I would encourage you to apply for an AMUN Secretariat position during Conference this November. Whether you’re majoring in political science,headed into public diplomacy or none of the above, we’re happy to have you – you join the ranks of lawyers, engineers, students, scientists and, yes, former political science students.

Please complete a Staff Application at Conference Services on the Ballroom level and schedule an interview time; additionally, feel free to talk with your AMUN Secretariat members throughout the weekend. Learn more about what Rapporteurs do or what working in Home Government is like. We’re looking forward to welcoming you to the family.

Kate Koett is AMUN’s Under-Secretary-General for Research.