By Mrs Barber (Head of Business and Economics)

Last week, 11 students from Years 11 and Lower Sixth were part of 230 students from around the world who took part in the Cambridge Model United Nations (CamMUN) conference organised by the Stephen Perse Foundation. The excitement was great as this was their first face-to-face conference.  In their committees students discussed a wide range of topics: The Commission on the Status of Women looked at abortion and sex slavery; The World Trade Organisation discussed tariffs on renewable energy and food from Costa Rica; The United Nations Office of Drugs and Organised Crimes looked for solutions to organ trafficking and the genocide of the Uighur Muslims in China; The World Health Organisation studied food security in Ethiopia and protocols for future epidemics; while The Crisis Committee debated strategies for dealing with a terrorist attack.  Additionally, one of our students, Avleen Jandhu chaired the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund where escaping poverty and gender identity were debated.

After an intense 3 days the students were rewarded with recognition in their committees, Ariadna Whittle-Queral with Best First Timer Award in her committee, and Manal Husain, Kiki Adams and Ella Allen all achieving Honourable Mentions.

Kiki Adams reflected: “CamMUN 2022 was an amazing experience that I was glad to have participated in. I really enjoyed that I was able to learn about topics I wouldn’t typically research by myself and was able to meet new people from different places around the world. I think that CamMUN was a very valuable opportunity as I was able to be more confident in public speaking as I had to present and argue a country's views that were often contradictory to my own. I was also able to have friendly but engaging debates with people presenting lots of different viewpoints. All of this made CAMMUN a valuable experience that I am so grateful to have been able to attend.”

Ella Allen (Lower Sixth) wrote: “Being able to attend CamMUN 2022 was an incredibly enjoyable and engaging experience, it gave me the opportunity to meet and debate with people from all around the world and encouraged me to practise and develop confidence in public speaking and formulating arguments to defend a viewpoint even when I did not agree with it. It also allowed me to learn about and develop an understanding on topics and issues that I would likely not have known about otherwise. Overall, I think CamMUN was an amazing opportunity that I feel I have gained a lot from and am very grateful to have been able to attend.”