We are back at Townshend from a successful Model United Nations (MUN) trip in Athens! Our MUN team had a blast and our Townshend students gained a great opportunity and a wonderful experience that helped develop their leadership, public-speaking, research, and writing skills. They came away from the conference with new ideas, skills and friends from all over the world. There were 800 students participating from 37 schools including international schools from Egypt, Turkey, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Spain, Croatia, and Greece. Students even had the opportunity to meet Jan Bondy, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Hellenic Republic along with other world affairs professionals.
Townshend’s MUN student delegates represented the delegations from Canada, lead by student ambassador Payton Goodred and Luxembourg, lead by MUN President and student ambassador Lina Mollaian. Below is a list of our student delegates and their committee from each delegation:
Canada Delegation
Aidan Campbell, Disarmament Committee
Karen Sereshgi, Social Humanitarian Committee
Arman Khorram, Political Committee
Payton Goodred, Legal Committee (Student Ambassador)
Rose Castro, Environmental Committee
Daniel Williams, Special Conference on Children’s Rights in the 21st Century
Luxembourg Delegation
Kiel Minervino, Disarmament Committee
Lina Mollaian, Social Humanitarian Committee (Student Ambassador and MUN President)
Kathrin Alber, Political Committee
Gabriella Annells, Legal Committee
Tamara Duncan, Environmental Committee
Christian Alber, Special Conference on Children’s Rights in the 21st Century
Despite being our first conference, students were engaged and active participants. Our Townshend students came prepared for the conference, each with 3 to 4 policy statements and resolutions in hand to present their ideas and recommendations to their committees. Students in each delegation had been assigned different committees to research, debate, and discuss policy goals and resolutions on a wide range of topics such as legal rights of children in armed conflicts, national security links, loss of biodiversity and the extinction of endangered species, cholera increase in South Sudan, unrest and political instability in Latin America, combating human trafficking, the situations in Libya and the Crimea region of Ukraine, foreign intervention in civil war, and many other pressing global challenges.
At the conference, Townshend students were able to actively participate in lobbying, speeches, debates, and voting. Most of our students were able to have the resolutions that they co-submitted in their individual committees passed on into the General Assembly and even some of our students had their operative clauses submitted into the final resolution approved by the General Assembly. Some of our students were able to pass their own amendments and posed thought-provoking questions during the General Assembly.
Townshend MUN delegates were very enthusiastic about this opportunity to step into the shoes of a diplomat and engage in world affairs with 800 worldly students in such a dynamic setting and ancient city.
Townshend student delegates also had the opportunity to explore and discover Greece with guided cultural excursion trips to the Oracle of Delphi and Apollo’s Temple, the theater of Dionysius, the Acropolis and Parthenon, and the historic Plaka district.
Overall, the MUN conference in Athens provided a superb platform for Townshend students to exchange ideas and knowledge in this era of globalization. In fact, we made such a good impression that we were invited to several MUN international conferences next year at international schools in Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, and Greece.
Townshend delegates are looking forward to participate in one of the MUN conferences next year and hopefully with more experience, bring back a “Best Delegate” award.
You can find more pictures and videos of the trip on our group Facebook page.