By Preet K, Year 12

Debating a range of current and complex topics, the Model United Nations Conference was held at Northwood College on Friday 26th January.

Hosting multiple different schools, 12 of us from Year 12 got the exciting opportunity to represent different countries at the event: our school represented China, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

With questions about child labour and girls’ education, to space colonisation and abortion access, the day started with resolutions on each topic being debated in the respective committees. For me, the highlight of this experience was learning and practising the skill of arguing different views on contentious issues; in preparation we had each done research on our given country and were representing our country’s opinion rather than our own.

Finally, the day of debating culminated in a general assembly as the last session. Here, all the countries and students voted on passing or rejecting the resolutions proposed by each committee on their topics. This was followed by the giving of awards, with 3 of us winning certificates – Preet K and Hope G won best delegates in their committee, and Georgia W-B winning runner up for best delegate.

Overall, I found that the conference allowed us to interact with other schools, build our confidence in public speaking within a room full of people you didn’t know, and learn about the different perspectives’ countries had on ongoing events.