News

 

“We all belong here, together, united.” 

From April 5 to April 11, a delegation of 22 St. Lawrence students attended the National Model United Nations (NMUN) in New York representing Argentina. Fostering global citizenship since 1927, NMUN is the world's largest, most prestigious, most diverse, and oldest ongoing university-level Model UN.  

Debating, negotiating, compromising, and consensus-building: during their week in New York, our students shone due to their passion and level of engagement. In the formal sessions, they gave memorable speeches to hundreds of their peers, and in the informal sessions, they worked collaboratively with student-delegates from around the world writing resolutions. Our delegation also had the opportunity to visit the Argentine Permanent Mission to the UN, where they had a Q&A session with that country’s top diplomats, and they attended the closing ceremony in the iconic General Assembly Hall.  

For their involvement, our delegation was recognized with an Outstanding Delegation Award, the highest possible. The representatives on the United Nations Environment Assembly (Émilie Gosselin and Nathalie Saourine) also earned a Position Paper Award for their research paper.  

Congratulations to you all!

 

Hope, compassion, empathy, self-fulfillment: There is no better way to understand the experience than to hear from our delegates themselves: 

• “To put it in a few words, my experience at Model UN has remarkably changed me. It's like I have learned so much about myself and about the UN! Speaking of our topic, I have learned so much about the world by discussing confidence building measures with so many different people. Of course, it has allowed me to further develop my communication and negotiation skills. Overall, I am so happy to have been part of it. Having the closing ceremony take place in the General Assembly Hall, I had goosebumps! It has been one of the best experiences of my entire life.” 

• “This was truly the best trip of my life. The entire experience, front to back, was an immersion in everything the UN stands for, and all that lets one's humanity flourish. Support: as a head delegate, I spent the week congratulating, advising, consoling, and encouraging. Empathy: Being surrounded by thousands of students adopting, for one week, a new nationality, and negotiating on the basis of compromise and understanding, I became more empathetic myself. Finally, Hope: Seeing proof that there are thousands of compassionate young people—hailing from over 100 different countries—devoted to bettering the world, truly filled me with hope that no global challenge is too great for us to overcome.” 

• “NMUN was once again an amazing experience, even better than it was the first time. Our delegation was incredibly well prepared, welcoming, and all in all super fun to be a part of. This year, something that I'll never forget happened, I witnessed a 50-country working paper get created and turned into a draft. It seemed like complete chaos, but it also gave me hope that so many people from so many different places can come together to work for the greater good.” 

• “NMUN helped me realize how much work goes into consensus-building. Negotiating in real time taught me patience, flexibility, and the art of compromise. For my part, compromise had to deal with personal issues during this important experience that helped me see life, and my problems, from a different perspective. I came back from NMUN not only with a better understanding of global politics, but with lasting friendships and a renewed sense of purpose as a human.” 

• “Going to NMUN was not only a privilege but an experience that has taught me to sympathize on an even deeper level with people from around the world. Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be a teenager living in Italy, or France, or in an African country. What activities do they do? Where do they hang out? What is school like? We have a tendency to think that people from elsewhere have it entirely different, but going to NMUN and meeting hundreds of people just like me has gotten me to realize that we are one of the same, and not even language or religion or nationality can take that away. Not only have I made long lasting connections and friendships, but I have learned about the world through the lenses of others my age, sharing similarities, feelings, and jokes. NMUN has reinforced the love I have for my world as a whole, for we all belong here, together, united.” 

• “NMUN has allowed me to develop my communication skills as well as my collaboration skills, whether on public speaking or exchanges made during unmoderated sessions. Finally, I made so many new friends and connections from all over the world, which was truly refreshing and rewarding.” 

• “My takeaway from this year as a whole: I think it's pretty amazing how, despite all of us coming from different backgrounds and perspectives, our shared passion for international diplomacy brought us together and even made us friends. Yes, I am grateful that I developed the skill of writing a position paper, and an effective operative clause, but what I am most grateful for is seeing from my own eyes how many young minds want to make the world a better place. It makes me hopeful for the future.” 

• “Engaging in discussions on the protection of women and children in armed conflict only reinforced my commitment to standing up for what is right and being a voice for those who cannot speak up for themselves. One of the most powerful moments for me was contributing to a clause that calls for mandatory gender-sensitive training on sexual violence for all military personnel involved in peacekeeping missions. I sincerely hope the United Nations will adopt this measure in the future to ensure peacekeepers are truly prepared to respond to such violations. NMUN was so much more than a trip to New York. It was an eye-opening and extremely enriching experience. People often say that ‘the sky is the limit,’ but this experience reminded me that there are truly no limits. If I could, I would do it again a thousand times.” 

• “Model United Nations has taught me that compromise is not a sign of weakness, it is progress. Our goal as a team was to build bridges through diplomacy and alliances. For me, Model UN was true teamwork: delegates representing various countries with diverging opinions and beliefs and working together to find common ground, despite our differences. I brought these skills back home with me and will continue to use them forever.” 

• “For starters, it allowed me to meet incredible people not only in St Lawrence's club, but others that came from all around the world to New York (NMUN)! Also, this experience allowed me to learn so much about the United Nations and their missions! As much as this organization is globally renowned, I felt that I lacked true knowledge that I can say I've now acquired. It taught me the structure of it, their goals and how they strive to achieve them!”