GESM’s MUN Club was excited to get back into action with many other international schools in the region on February 16th and 17th. The United Nations World Health Organization building in Manila was once again a wonderful venue for the 21st edition of the Jose P. Rizal Makati Rotary Club’s conference.
To kick off the event, the delegates were off to committees quickly on Day 1 to debate resolutions on topics ranging from the ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea to protecting children from harmful online content.
Day 2 started off with a thoughtful tone with heartfelt speeches by Rotary Club Governor Al Montecillo as well as a representative of the Department of Education from the Philippines. In her moving speech, she reminded us that, “international students should be masters of information outside of our borders”. She also recited an inspirational story of a young girl from a poor farming background in northern Luzon that once gazed upon a passing plane overhead and dreamed of changing her life and the world. Through study and hard work, she indeed was able to realise that dream by becoming an ambassador for the Philippines, working with nations throughout Europe today.
Full of hope and inspiration, the General Assembly then got down to the business of debating and voting on the prior day’s resolutions before an emergency announcement reached the dais. It seemed that Alien technology was going to be used to stage a US attack of China! After a flurry of fun and engaging activity on the GA floor, a resolution was put forth, debated and voted on until it was time for the awards and closing speeches by the chairs and MUNA 2019 secretariat.
All in all, it has been a great leap forward for GESM’s MUN Club that saw us once again attend three events. Milestones were reached by having our first ever committee chair in Grade 11 student S. Puri who did an outstanding job overseeing the UN Human Rights Council Committee. Also in attendance were M. Lazan, B. Wootton, L. Merkenich, P. Anand and M. Kumar. All did an outstanding job contributing speeches and points of information to both their committees and the General Assembly. We would be remiss not to mention the dedicated work of our club president A. Ott as well as vice-president N. Simorangkir. They are both to be commended for their sacrifice of time and devotion to MUN in teaching and offering wisdom to many of the younger members of the group. We will miss you both!
Our next event in will be at the start of next school year. The MUN Local always sees a plethora of fine students from all over the Philippines gathering to learn about critical issues in our ever-changing world. Don’t miss it!