Exciting Debates and Activities at Ashbourne’s Model United Nations (MUN) Club

The MUN Club (Model United Nations) at Ashbourne has gained incredible momentum and grown into one of the most popular student clubs at Ashbourne in the last two years.

Last year, Ashbourne’s MUN club members participated in the Youth Model United Nations Conference at the London School of Economics (LSE), which simulated the proceedings and debates within the United Nations. Students learned about diplomacy, leadership and communicating effectively as a team through various committee sessions in which they aimed to construct resolutions for current global issues. These ranged from the use of drones in warfare, the stigmatisation of HIV patients worldwide and climate change. The event was organised by the LSE Student Union.
 
Three Ashbourne students, Zariel Kondau, Alia Butlin and Quang Huy Le, received honourable mentions during the conference as well as Sasha Akhtyrska winning ‘Most Improved Delegate’, Carin Tonkmore-Sarsfield winning ‘Outstanding Delegate’ and Laura Foster winning ‘Best Delegate’ in their respective committees. That’s nearly half of our attendees winning awards.
 
This year, the MUN Club has kickstarted its 2020/21 programme with some exciting debates and activities. During the first half term, the club focused on improving debating skills. Topics covered in these debates included the maintaining sovereignty of your own health, protecting human rights in the face of growing surveillance, keeping yourself informed in the era of ‘fake news’ and the changing nature of war and warfare.
In the next half term, club members will be preparing for the YouthMUN Conference, in February 2021, organised by the LSE Student Union. The conference will bring together 30 to 40 schools nationwide. Ashbourne members will be representing the UK, Saudi Arabia and Italy at the conference and so are starting to put together profiles of each of these countries to better understand their diplomatic stance and relationships. At the conference, each students will be appointed to different United Nations Committees (e.g. The Security Council, General Assembly) depending upon their experience. In these committees, students will have to work with other delegates to tackle designated topics, such as nuclear disarmament and climate change, but which are, as yet, unknown.
The MUN Club offers excellent opportunities for students to build their communication, research and negotiation skills. Attending events such as the Youth MUN at LSE also provides a perfect networking opportunity.
Juliana Rozensztajn de Mattos runs the MUN Club at Ashbourne. If you have any queries with regard to the club, please contact her directly ([email protected]).
 
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