Sunday, April 29th .....

The Model United Nations Assembly is a Rotary project which gives students the opportunity to practice their public-speaking skills in a real-life situation.  Teams of two represent a particular country and debate UN-type resolutions from the point of view of that country.  To make it interesting, teams are asked to dress in national costume.

 The students are from Year 10 and, this year, I was the Secretary-General so had to manage the proceedings.  Marilyn was my assistant for a session.  Normally, we get up to 50 teams but we had to change the date this year and numbers were down to 26.  It’s often a ‘girl-thing’ and, at one point, we had no boys entered at all.  However, at the last minute, a handful of boys popped up to make it a little more gender appropriate.

Most teams looked great and had gone to a lot of trouble to find the right costume for their country.  There is a prize for the best-dressed and we always ask the ladies of the Inner Wheel to judge.  It’s surprising how their opinions differ from mine.  I scratch my head sometimes, wondering what they saw when they picked the winner.  This year, for example, Japan won.  Of course, Japanese dress is so exotic and stands out.  But, one of the girls wore a Thai dress!  Looked lovely, but oh so un-Japanese.

One or two teams always stand out; mostly, it’s because they have an outstanding teacher who focuses on international affairs but, occasionally you meet a gifted individual who is passionate about the topic.  It’s rare to meet 2 individuals on the same team with similar ability.

 The two girls representing the United Kingdom were a hoot.  They had such posh voices and never deviated from the role.  When we had the Parade of Nations, the one in black came first, singing the British National Anthem, while the other one followed behind, waving her hand like the Queen.

This year, Ethiopia and Greece were brilliant but we gave the prize to USA who were aggressive, condescending, abrasive, bossy, threatening, and so on, just as you would expect USA to be.  As well, they knew their stuff and were able to argue America’s point of view in every debate.  For some reason, the girls chose to wear Superman T-shirts with fake pearls.  Clearly, there’s an image in their minds of what an American diplomat looks like.  They’ll go on to National MUNA in Canberra later in the year.  Teams from other states are usually from Grades 11 and 12 so our kids struggle a bit, but usually can hold their own.

I think MUNA is one of the best things we do.  It ticks so many boxes and is always a very worthwhile experience.  Because the students come from across the state, we provide billets for them and they get to make contact with like-minded individuals from other schools.  It can only be a good thing.