Student
Leadership
Group
Term 1 LEAP Challenge Day Model United Nations
On Friday 11th March the Year 7, 8 and 9 LEAP classes all participated in a Model United Nations Conference Challenge Day. A Model United Nations Conference allows students to participate as individual countries and debate and represent their cultural, economic and political views. For LEAP students the Challenge Days each term provide them with an opportunity to use their critical thinking to respond to big ideas or issues in our society.
The Model United Nations topic this year was ‘The Heat is On: Climate Change and the Environment,’ requiring students to respond to increasing economic, geographic and social impacts of climate change in our world today and the future. The ultimate goal of the day was for students to debate on a draft resolution document that outlined what responsibilities and actions countries should take to address the climate crisis while also being consistent with the views and positions of their designated country.
18 countries participated with each team comprising of students in years 7, 8 and 9. This was designed to provide the LEAP students an opportunity to collaborate, bond and mentor each other as they developed their research and arguments on behalf of their country.
Thanks must be given to the LEAP Humanities teachers, Ms Gregory, Ms Cossey and Ms Polatidis who supported their classes to help them prepare for the day and the student performances reflected their hard work.
Morning tea and lunch was organised by Ms Mollenkopf and Ms McGinley who provided a healthy sandwich making station which was very appreciated by the hungry delegates.
A special thank you must also go to one our senior Legal Studies teachers Ms Olsen who was the guest of honour as the Honourable Secretary General of the United Nations. Ms Olsen acted as the moderator for the day, allowing countries to respectfully debate within the space.
Overall, the day was a great success with a resolution being unanimously voted in favour of. The students are looking forward to the next LEAP Challenge Day and upcoming external Model United Nations Conferences this year.
Matt McLaren (Individual Learning 7-12) and Alex Woolley (Student Leadership Coordinator)
Passed Resolution
PREAMBLE
1.1 Deeply concerned with the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and its impact on the Earth’s climate;
1.2 Aware that the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is largely the result of human activities that include the burning of fossil fuels;
1.3 Alarmed that all countries, in particular developing countries, including the least developed countries and small island developing States, face increased risks from the negative impacts of climate change;
1.4 Reiterating that responses to climate change should be coordinated in an integrated manner with social and economic development, taking into full account the legitimate priority needs of developing countries for the achievement of sustained economic growth and the eradication of poverty;
OPERATIVE
2.1 Strongly urges all nations to commit to the resolution at hand;
2.2 Support that all wealthy industrialised nations invest heavily in research and technologies that will boost their renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydro power, and reduce their reliance on non-renewable energy sources, such as coal, gas, oil and nuclear;
2.3 Requiring every nation to have switched to renewable energy by 2050 that these nations develop methods to reduce their output of greenhouse gases, by encouraging energy conservation and efficiency when non-renewable energy is utilised
2.4 Enforces all developed countries all nations increase the level of ambition in their targets to reduce global greenhouse emissions, in order to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in global temperatures to well below two degrees above pre-industrial levels;
2.5 Requires the transfer of research and technologies from developed countries to developing ones, to enable poorer countries to reduce their own reliance on fossil fuels;
2.6 Urges developed countries to increase funding to poorer developing countries, to enable them to improve their own renewable energy technologies;
2.7 Recommends that developing countries make attempts to limit their greenhouse gas emissions by ensuring the efficient use of energy and to seek the use of renewable energy sources whenever possible and for developing countries to be given more support in reducing their emissions.
2.8 Calls upon all nations to protect their existing forest and invest heavily in reforestation, to improve the state of the world’s forests and help absorb some of the atmosphere’s harmful carbon dioxide levels;
R U OK? Student Voice Workshop
On Friday 11th March a special event occurred for Student Leaders in Years 10 – 12. The National Education Manager of the organisation R U OK?, Claire Goodall, visited Dromana College to meet the Student Leaders. Claire flew from Sydney and was joined by one of their Melbourne based colleagues to workshop ideas with the Student Leaders to develop resources to help support mental health in young people and the wider community. In 2021 Claire had joined our Student Leaders to record a podcast discussing the importance of mental health.
The discussions revolved around how R U OK? could further develop their current resources to support key stakeholders and people in need of support for mental health. The discussion was rich and warmly received by Claire who appreciated the wealth of ideas that were presented. The intention is for this discussion to be tabled and then implemented to be reflected in resources rolled out later this year in support of R U OK? Day 2022.
The Wellbeing Team have been instrumental in this process with a special mention to Kristie Oates who helped organise and support this event.
Even though the R U OK? warehouse had suffered flooding due to the shocking weather in New South Wales, Dromana College was also given a significant package of merchandise and material to raise awareness regarding mental health.
We thank R U OK? for their time and effort to visit Dromana College and can’t wait to see what the next steps are regarding this promotion process to support mental health initiatives.
Alex Woolley
Student Leadership Coordinator
2022 Student Leadership Conference
On Tuesday 1st March the annual Dromana College Student Leadership Conference was held. All 101 Student Leaders were invited to spend a day meeting, collaborating and developing plans for their year ahead in their respective roles.
The Koorie Captains Hudson Fraser and Jahria Ellis started the day with an acknowledgment of country before the guest speaker Claire Goodall from the organisation R U OK? spoke to the leadership group about managing teams of people, achieving objectives and building networks. Claire presented virtually from Sydney and engaged in an interesting question and answer session with the students afterwards. In addition to the guest speaker the conference was also attended by our 2021 College Captains Ginger Sansom and Lilly Snow who generously gave up their time to mentor and support the 2022 Student Leaders during the day.
Students then had the opportunity to play leadership bingo by meeting and finding others who had different life achievements and qualities. It was then that the core business of the day began and students were divided into different groups across all year levels to discuss strategies and responses to address key student concerns in the college. These discussions were rich and motivating with many key ideas being raised by all involved.
Finally, the Student Leaders then moved into their year level and domain teams to work directly with their coordinators to develop plans within their roles more specifically in 2022. Again, there were many great conversations and ideas discussed and hopefully outcomes of these will be seen very soon.
An event like this requires a lot of support from many teachers and students and I would like to thank all those who were able to make this happen.
Alex Woolley
Student Leadership Coordinator