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Building global awareness

What better way to increase global perspective, understanding and insight than by participating in the Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) 2019 competition.

Last term, six ����AV students from Years 10 and 11 took part in the MUNA 2019 competition for the Northern Sydney region, which was held at Epping Boys High School. MUNA is a Rotary youth program, which supports young people to learn about other nations, enabling them to better understand and appreciate the workings of the United Nations, while simultaneously developing their debating and public speaking skills. Students form teams of three, choose a country to focus on and research its history, politics, economics, population, international alignment and policies in current affairs.

With the support of Languages Teachers Mr Mikkelsen and Ms Furlong, ����AV fielded two teams. Isabelle, (Year 10), Zoe and Claudia (Year 11) focused on China, and Darci, Mya and Mia (Year 10) focused on Cuba. Darci and Zoe spoke to the School at Assembly this week about their experience of the competition.

“As the world’s only truly universal global organisation, the United Nations is the principal forum to address issues that transcend national boundaries and cannot be resolved by any one country acting alone. Last term, our teams gathered at Epping Boys High School along with 27 other schools to debate six resolutions about a variety of topics, ranging from trade wars, to women’s rights, and even burgers and chips. The two ����AV teams represented China and Cuba. Overall, it was an amazing experience fuelled by contemporary political and economic issues.

We met every second Tuesday after school to prep for our speeches, and this involved research and discussions about the six resolutions. We also met at Shore with their two teams on Friday mornings for training by a previous winner of the MUNA competition. This was extremely valuable as we were able to gain insight into the tips and tricks needed to engage the audience and judges, as well as enhancing our confidence in public speaking.”

Buoyed by the success of participating in MUNA, the students are keen to repeat the experience by holding a ����AV-only version of the MUNA competition at school later this term.

“Last year, ����AV held our own MUNA competition, and we are pleased to announce that this year it will be running again. This is a lot less intimidating as it is just ����AV and no other schools participating. Last year’s event was genuinely a lot of fun and all of us who took part really enjoyed the experience and gained a lot from it. Students who compete in the internal competition will then have the opportunity to try out for the Northern Sydney MUNA competition in 2020.”

The ����AV MUNA 2019 event will be held after school on Tuesday in Week 9, with Language Teachers Ms Furlong and Mr Mikkelsen coordinating it. Anyone who is interested in languages, international relations or global issues should take part.

Watch out António Guterres! A Wenonian could be taking over from you as the next UN Secretary-General!