PNBHS NEWS

Model United Nations

 
Picture of Gerard Atkin
Model United Nations
by Gerard Atkin - Friday, 11 May 2018, 3:46 PM
 

Recently eight young men from PNBHS – John Cole, Kavish Desai, Davis Farrar-Ferguson, Trent Hooper, Andrew Karatea, Keegan Leask, Rohan Sharma, William Wood –  attended the Model United Nations in Christchurch.  Year 12 student John Cole, a ‘High School Ambassador’ for the programme, prepared this report:

“Modelled events model real life situations or events and their diplomatic effects. They are events that develop civics education, public speaking, teamwork and critical thinking skills.

One of the main operational groups that runs these events is UNYouth. They are the primary operators of the well-known Auckland Youth Declaration.

Events are held all over the country, but primarily in the 3 main centres – Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. Some of the other organisations that operate and promote these events are: UNYouth, UNYouth outreach ambassador group (UNYouth HSA Programme), European Union Centres Network of New Zealand (EUCN), National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE), Jean Monnet Ltd, University of Victoria, University of Canterbury and University of Auckland.

Eight young men from PNBHS (and 2 others from the Palmerston North region) attended the event in Christchurch having generously received about $1800 in travel, food and accommodation support. They stayed in shared bunk rooms at the Christchurch YHA with other students at the event. The event was attended by approximately 120 students from all over the country.

The event was over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of May. It was provided with support from the EUCN, UC, Jean Monnet Ltd and NCRE. Transport and accommodation stipends were provided to encourage a wider area of attendance for the event given that the event local to Wellington had been disbanded this year in favour of a NZ/UK parliament focused event (Model Westminster parliament).

The event focused around modelling the decision-making process of the (real world) Free Trade Agreement currently being discussed between NZ and the European Union.

Ten scholarships for a University of Canterbury “Euro 101” STAR correspondence paper were awarded for excellence in the various working groups, with three students from PNBHS receiving these scholarship awards:

Andrew Karatea
Trent Hooper
Davis Farrar Furguson”