Model United Nations Conference

On Wednesday the 17th of May, a group of 12 McClelland Students and Ms White travelled to the Monash Clayton campus for the Model UN excursion. In preparation for the day, teams of year 9, 11 and 12 students worked together to research allocated countries and the overarching Sustainable Development Goal #2: Zero Hunger: Addressing Global Poverty and Universal Food Security. On the day, Gary drove us to the campus, where we walked to the space and found our tables. The Year 9 team spoke for Algeria and urged the importance of agricultural sustainability, represented by Charlotte Doyle, Makayla Doyle, Daniel Trott and Lia Velissaris. In addition to the Algeria team, Year 11 students Steph Armstrong, Evelyn Butler, Tamara Mills and Ella Simic-Sharma represented the delegation for Mexico, with their team placing emphasis on the vulnerability of newly developed countries to collapse when put under strenuous economic obligations.

I was a part of the delegation for France, with my team-mates, Angus Archard, Izack Nessel and Carla Azzopardi. At around 9:30, once all of the other students from schools across Victoria had arrived, we began the first first session. The day was modelled around the UN General Assembly, emulating the real processes and protocols implemented by real diplomats across the globe. After sharing our position statements, we were able to establish what other countries were our allies and opponents. France were allies with Australia, China, Japan and Brazil, but shared differences and tense debate with Zambia, and conflicted in opinions with India and Saudi Arabia. On the day, we practiced public speaking, debate and diplomacy, using our preparations and research skills to adapt to the changing environment quickly as new amendments and positions were shared. 

At lunchtime, as well as enjoying the food supplied by Monash’s catering, we walked to and explored the Moot Court in the Monash Law Building, with Dr Paul Burgess, a lecturer at Monash University who discussed the potential benefits from exploring a university degree relating to law.

Overall, France were relatively successful, with favourable outcomes passed, but the overall draft resolution was disappointing to France. Despite this, after a long-day, it was exciting to see the hard work of delegates from all of the different represented countries come together, practising teamwork and communication skills in an exciting, fun day!

Written by Sarah Maguire