Year 10 Students Represent Sacré Cœur at Model UN Conference

On Friday 29 August, eight Year 10 students travelled to St Joseph’s College in Geelong to take part in the third annual Model United Nations General Assembly, hosted at the Edmund Rice Campus.

Sacré Cœur proudly fielded two teams:

· April A, Olivia H, Evelyn M, and Linaya J represented Mexico

· Kanna Kondo, Ashi Kumar, Ingrid Piva, and Olivia Nedanovski represented Qatar

They joined more than 130 students from across Geelong, Ballarat, and Melbourne to debate the theme: “Pathways to Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict.” The event was run in partnership with the United Nations Association of Australia (Victoria Branch), with students representing 32 UN Member States.

The conference was presided over by Professor Ian Howie, who served as Secretary-General for the day. Professor Howie is a former senior UN official, having held long-term assignments as the UNFPA representative in countries including China, Vietnam, Ghana, Rwanda, and Papua New Guinea.

It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to engage in global issues, develop public speaking and diplomacy skills, and collaborate with peers from other schools.

What is Model UN? – April Alexander

Model UN is essentially a role play of the United Nations, where different schools will form groups and act as delegates from an assigned country to solve an issue, which this year was Pathways to Peace. The day includes opening speeches, morning tea, a caucus, where you are able to talk to the other schools and gain support for your ideas. Then you have lunch and finish up the day with voting, where you want your amendment to have the most votes for it. Overall, this day was a great experience and was really fun to meet students from other school, who you wouldn't get to interact with otherwise. 

Why was it a valuable experience? – Ashi Kumar

Model UN was a unique experience, offering a hands-on opportunity to learn and model how the United Nations works. It was led by Ian Howie, who was a previous career official in the United Nations. The day began by listening to each country's position statements, which outlined what draft resolutions the country agrees with and doesn't agree with. Representing Qatar alongside my teammates Ingrid, Olivia N, and Kanna, I was struck by the significance of a country's rights and the immense work that goes into creating international policy. From the moderated caucus to the final vote on our proposed amendments, it was a day of friendly negotiation and teamwork with delegates from other schools. It was incredibly rewarding to see our amendment pass with the most support, and the experience left me with a newfound appreciation for the hard work of the United Nations.

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