Model United Nations
French Model United Nations
On Thursday the 21st of July me, Greta, Ellie, Hannah, Amy, and Rokia (a student we worked with from Beechworth Secondary College) attended the French Language Model United Nations. The day kicked off with an introduction to our secretary general, followed by speeches from each country in which they put forward amendments that would best suit their country. Delivering a speech is most definitely nerve-wracking but I think we all did a fantastic job! After a delicious morning tea full of French pastries, we had the opportunity to go around the room and talk to other countries (in French!) to see if they were interested in supporting our amendments. It was awesome to interact with other teams and practice our conversational French, as well as meet other students from schools all around Victoria. I really enjoyed my day where I got see a snippet of the life of a diplomat in the UN + feel like a real delegate representing a country. A big thank you to Mr. Hilton for supporting us in the lead up to the event and on the day :)
- Ariana Cosatovic
Year 12
Congratulations to Ariana Cosatovic, Greta Clark-Walsh, Amy Deller, Ellie Bellsmith and Hannah Benhassine for participating in this year’s French Model United Nations at The Bastow Institute, North Melbourne. The theme was Combating Climate Change: Committing to Global Action (Lutter contre le changement climatique : S’engager à agir à l’échelle mondiale). Many schools from Melbourne and its environs entered teams.
Before the event formally started there was a pre-recorded video address from the Victorian Minister for Education who reinforced the importance of multilingualism in the worlds of politics and diplomacy and who praised the students for continuing their Languages studies through to the end of Year 12. This address was followed by another pre-recorded address from António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, who highlighted the fact that “young people are the ones who are leading the fight against climate change”. A very good start!
Melbourne Girls’ College entered two separate teams who were given Morocco and Kiribati to represent on the world stage. Our students also warmly welcomed Rokia from Beechworth Secondary College who strengthened our team.
Whether in the delivery of the position statement, the moderated caucus or the unmoderated caucus our students “led and achieved”! Excellent position statements were delivered – clearly and concisely. During the moderated and unmoderated caucus sessions our students (déléguées honorables) asked probing questions and made astute observations that left other teams struggling to answer and the moderator and other accompanying teachers audibly impressed.
The day provided an excellent opportunity for our students to challenge themselves in French, to step outside their comfort zone and meet and interact with their peers from other schools.
As always, our students were a credit to themselves and Melbourne Girls’ College.
Model United Nations @Mac.Robertson's Girls' High School
Over Friday the 10th of June, a group of year 12 students applied our Global Politics knowledge when we participated in the Model UN at Mac.Robertsons Girls’ High School. Over the course of the day, we acted as the United Nations Security Council and held debates on whether we, as the different countries, would strike certain parts of the resolution or if we would prefer to change the wording of specific clauses. My partner and I were representing Russia and we were able to have good political discussions in relation to the two resolutions: the first on ‘Democracy’ and the unseen resolution on the ‘South China Sea’. Overall, my partner and I had a great time as we were able to discuss and use our political knowledge against representatives from Melbourne High, Melbourne Grammar and Mac.Robertsons Girls’ High School.
Nataly Shuleshov
Nataly Shuleshov, Erin Williams (Russia)
Kieran Grant, Arabelle Rowlands-Copley (China)