WhY We Are Here: Intentions of the Delegates

The theme for this year’s KUNA is intention. Intention is a very charged word; it can represent not only a plan but also future goals. Intention represents reasoning, desire, cause, motivation, and drive, to name a few. With this in mind, we interviewed delegates to see what their intentions were for the conference and in some cases, how they changed. The following students were asked to describe their intentions for the conference, and if they are experienced delegates, how they intend to guide new delegates.

“My intentions for the conference are just to try to make everybody’s lives a little bit easier and to really have everyone come out of their shells since this is my last conference and I really want to end it with a bang. … Oh, absolutely! I remember being a new delegate and it is just so scary wondering around in this chaotic madness, but I just wish everyone would come up and talk to me and talk to anybody that they see, PO or not, and really just kind of get to know the culture of the conference, and the awesomeness of the people here.” — Haley Buchanan, Chief-of-Staff

“My intentions for this conference would be to branch out. Um, I typically debate a lot during conferences, so I’m looking to not debate as much but to look for those close friendships that you make along the way of the conferences. … Honestly, stepping back a little bit in debate and yielding time if I do get up to speak, and making sure that if I see anyone, I’m inclusive and I’m stopping and saying hello.”
— Ashley Barnette, Commonwealth Speaker of the House KYA 2018

“I would say my intentions are to expand my knowledge of international law and policy and to really start branching out from not only local and national policy but into foreign policy and the ways that our government impacts other governments. … Especially with new delegates being in my Lafayette delegation, I want to encourage them to speak and encourage them to voice their opinions. I know when I was a new delegate if someone would have come up to me and said, ‘Hey, go speak! I’m sure you have a really great point about this bill,’ it would’ve just been a really great factor of encouragement, so I want to be that for new delegates.”
— Hart Hallos, Experienced Delegate

“My intentions for this conference, since I kind of got a little bit of everything as a sponsor last time, I really wanted to try one of the specialized programs, so I’m in Security Counsel this time and it’s really awesome. … Oh, definitely! Almost 75 percent of our delegation from my school this year is completely inexperienced, they’ve never been to any Y-conferences before. So, the few experienced delegates that we have have had to really step up and try and guide the people along, and I look forward to seeing what they think this year after it’s over.”
— Zach Eichner, Security Counsel UAE Representative

“For me, I think that I’m just trying to push an agenda that I care really deeply about and sort of just raise awareness about some of the things that I think are the most pertinent issues to our global community. … I think for me, the biggest step on getting out of my comfort zone was working up the confidence to go out and speak, not necessarily even in meetings, just to people in general, and just meeting all of the incredible people that live in our state. So, I’m just sort of being a very social person and talking to as many people as I can and pushing them to have conversations and get to know each other.”
— Palmer Lessenbery, Presiding Officer Candidate

“I originally wanted to come to KUNA because a lot of my friends were going and they wanted me to go with them. At first, I thought it would be boring because I’ve never really been interested in politics. I knew KUNA would be a welcoming and open environment, but seeing so many people willingly express and respectfully debate opposing ideas was incredibly interesting. It’s not every day that you see people listening and learning from those around them.”
— Kayla Buchignani, New Delegate

It is evident that while people come to KUNA for a multitude of reasons, we are all here to do one thing: leave an impression. Whether we inspire change or inspire a new delegate, we have the ability through one high school conference to make a difference. That is what defines KUNA.