Our Youth Services Director Anne Josefsberg provided the following report on the Model United Nations Assembly ( MUNA) which was held over the 27-28 April weekend.
There are so many ways to describe MUNA - exciting, action-packed, amazing and absorbing. Teamed up in pairs, students undertook research into a nominated country, selected a resolution ( a proposer, a seconder, speakers for, speakers against, final thoughts expressed by the proposer, final thoughts expressed by speaker against). Delegates from countries sought clarification, offered motions of dissent, and most often of all, points of order strategically applied to draw more information from the proposer.
Canterbury Rotary Club sponsored two MUNA delegates - Maria Gerges and Luca Petterlin who represented Indonesia - they are pictured with Club member Tash Facci.
The cut and thrust of the event was assessed by a panel of three Rotarians who awarded the following categories: best male, best female, best costume, first winning team ( to go forward the Canberra for the National MUNA Competition) and second winning team. The first winning team were from Swinburne Senior Secondary College, Laura and Archie, who represented Saudi Arabia. They performed extremely well. The second winning team came from MacRobertson Girls High School, Vy and Areeba, who were very close in their performance on the day (Sunday 28th April). The manner statistics, facts and figures were absorbed by student delegates and strategically used in response to clarification and points of order was very impressive. The quality and depth of language demonstrated conveyed eloquence and a deep understanding of the issues within the resolutions.
The day was so satisfying and I heard one of the delegates declare that she did not believe that there was other people who had the same level of interest in politics as she did. One of our delegates , Luc, told me in a conversation over the lunch break, that the best part of his day was when he read the news of the day.
In a world where it often appears that many citizens are ignorant of the world around them, I found myself in a room full of current affairs junkies. It was such a pleasure to be there, surrounded by them, soaking up their intense enthusiasm, passion and raw intelligence.