During the last week of January, a delegation of 9 students headed to Osaka to participate in a Model United Nations (MUN) conference hosted by Senri Osaka International School (SOIS). The event was planned by two of our students, Gurbani (Class of 2018, India) and Zoe (Class of 2018, Cayman Islands), alongside the MUN student lead from SOIS. The two-day conference took the style of a MUN global issues forum, where students debated on the crucial issues of child refugees and child poverty.
Our delegation consisted of students who were both seasoned and new to the MUN circuit, which allowed everyone to learn from each other. Tiyi (Class of 2018, France), who has attended several conferences before, shared that she had the pleasure of helping her Grade 10 and Grade 11 teammates while also gaining more knowledge about prominent issues in the world.
Meanwhile, An (Class of 2020, Vietnam), found her first MUN conference to be an unexpected and interesting experience. “You do not have a script so every part of the conference includes making speeches, responding to other delegates’ difficult questions, writing resolutions and debating over clauses! The most important lesson I got from this experience is how to be empathetic, as I had to be considerate of other countries’ policies in order to write a resolution that would convince the whole council.”
“We got to create a lasting relationship with SOIS as well as make a lot of new friends with people passionate about issues of global importance. Zoe and I chaired the conference, and other delegates who had varying levels of experience got to show off and develop their skills over the 2 days. SOIS teachers and faculty really enjoyed the conference as well and are keen to have similar interactions in the future.”
– Gurbani (Class of 2018, India)
We would like to thank The Beisia 21st Century Foundation for their kind support in making this fruitful and engaging trip possible for all our students!