East MUN club hosts conference By Anushana Shukla, Parth Chhabra and Hannah He Grade 11, East Campus The East Campus’ year-old Model United Nations (MUN) club has had a highly productive first year, attending three international MUN conferences and hosting our own MUN UWCSEA East conference in September. Our achievements have exceeded our highest expectations. UWCSEA’s goal is to educate individuals to embrace challenge and take responsibility for shaping a better world—a perfect alignment with the United Nations’ aim. We believe that by engaging high achieving and passionate individuals in a constructive manner, this goal can be met and will ensure effective collaboration between the future leaders of the world. MUN simulates the UN conferences and offers a platform to confront a variety of international issues, urging delegates to endeavour through the complexities and intricacies of establishing a solution. It strives to stimulate both broad-minded and creative thinking through practical problem solving, and allows delegates to consider affairs from perspectives other than their own.
When our club’s ambitious executive team proposed to host UWCSEA East’s own conference, we were supported by the High School administration and Activities Department. True to the UWC ethos, the planning process was student-led with guidance from our two valuable facilitators, Martin Samuelsson and Melanie Nightingale. The planning process— albeit stressful at times—was one of the most rewarding and educational experiences we have ever undertaken. The Executive Planning Committee and volunteers for the Communications and Marketing, Logistics and Finance departments organised every aspect of the conference from the budget and logistics, to promoting the conference and liaising with invited schools, to arranging sponsorship and guest speakers. They also trained the chairs and delegates in preparation for their conference duties. These tasks were new to many of us and required a degree of professionalism and formality not usually required of High School students. More than 100 UWCSEA East High School students were involved in the conference in some capacity, with most attending as delegates and many experiencing an MUN conference for the first time.
In addition to a General Assembly attended by all delegates, we offered six committees covering a wide range of global issues: Disarmament, Economic and Social, Human Rights, Political, WHO and Security Council. These committees allowed delegates to confront and challenge relevant aspects of pressing international matters—from attempting to break down today’s largest and most complex geopolitical issues in North Korea and Syria, to addressing social and human issues affecting society’s everyday lives such as LGBT adoption and cyber privacy. Debate in all committees was not only in-depth and analytically considerate of the affairs at hand, but also sought to highlight the need for diplomacy and innovation in international relations. The 226 delegates from East, Dover and six other participating schools in the region, worked in tandem to pass resolutions while also making friendships and memories. The conference weekend was a huge success. We are grateful to everyone that helped make this conference a reality, including our generous sponsor, Takeda Pharmaceuticals. We look forward to another fruitful year of MUN.
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