UN Evatt Public Speaking

Some of you may know about UN Youth Australia – for those who don’t, it is a national youth-led organisation that aims to educate and empower young Australians on global issues. The idea behind their work is they believe young people can, and do, make a difference in their communities. One of the programs of the organisation is a public speaking event / competition called the UN EVATT which educates young people about Australia's place in the world and empowers them as active citizens by developing public speaking, negotiation, teamwork, research, and diplomatic skills. The competition takes the form of a mock session of the United Nations Security Council.

Two of our Senior students, Danai Mahachi (12 Frew) and Tafara Mhindurwa (12 Frew) voluntarily registered to compete in the UN EVATT competition in August. They spent 4 hours on zoom whilst using diplomacy as a means to amend, strike, and accept resolutions.

They were very surprised to see that a past Girtonian, Jordan Rodgers (who graduated last year) was a judge for the competition. 

Unfortunately, Danai and Tafara did not progress to the next round. Despite this, they thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and experience and received some very valuable and positive feedback regarding their contributions to the debates in their speeches and diplomacy. A fine effort by both gentlemen. Please congratulate them if you see or speak with them.

Below is an image of a conversation from Danai and Tafara during their event which is when they were mid-conversation between Team USA (which they were representing) and Russia. “Russia” ended up agreeing with Team USA’s terms.