Q-MUN 1, the first MUN conference held at The Queen's School on Saturday 1 February, brought together 86 students in a big, entirely student-led collaborative venture simulating a diplomatic summit at the UN.
Students from from Queen's, Weaverham High School, Christleton High School and The Bishops' Blue Coat Church of England High School took part. Five of our girls chaired the debates together with guest-chairs from Christleton. Eighteen Queen’s girls from Years 9-12 were involved as delegates, representing countries as varied as Russia, the USA, France, the UK and Kenya in the Disarmament, Human Rights, Youth and Environment Committees.
Taking the role of UN Secretary General, Charlie (Year 12) was in charge of the day from leading the Opening and Closing Ceremonies to briefing and supporting our internal and external chairs, together with Head of Chairs Hannah (Year 11).
At the Opening Ceremony, Headmistress Sue WW spoke about the benefits of involvement in MUN, highlighting skills such as self-motivation, confidence and public speaking that are so crucial in the modern workplace.
The keynote address was given by Chiara Lisowski, alumna of 2005, who spoke impressively and movingly about what it means to be a ‘Global Citizen’ is today’s connected world. Adamant that everyone is now a global citizen, Chiara explored both the global and the personal dimensions of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, drawing on a wealth of examples from her involvement with One Young World, the global young leaders’ forum. We were pleased that Chiara, her husband and 6-month-old daughter Bea stayed for the morning, and our runners enjoyed showing her around the committees to sample some of the debates.
The Press Team, including students from Years 9-12 and headed by Lauren (Year 12) took photographic and video footage of the event and conducted interviews with delegates and advisers. Working to an extremely tight deadline, they produced a newsletter and a video of the day shown to great applause at the Closing Ceremony. Our team of Year 7 and Year 9 Runners did an invaluable job delivering diplomatic correspondence between delegates and helping with meeting and greeting our external visitors.
The following delegates received awards from the Chairs: Emily (Environment - Highly Commended), Rosie (Youth - Commended), Kate (Human Rights - Outstanding), Sasha and Alanna (Disarmament - Commended and Highly Commended, respectively).
