On the weekend of 11 to 13 March Habs’ students delivered a fantastic Model United Nations Conference (HabsMUN). What is remarkable about this event is that it is entirely student-led, with only admin. support from the school. Ambitious in scope and serious in content, HabsMUN provides topical debate in a social atmosphere. The background of conflict in Ukraine was present, but in fact the two-year hiatus due to Covid meant that, more than ever, it was important for students to make new friends and enjoy themselves.
We hosted 20 schools, with 300 delegates representing 59 nations of the UN. Topics ranged from the Question of Child Labour to Preparation for Future Pandemics, the Question of the war in Tigray to the Return of Cultural Artefacts. In total, 23 Questions were considered, and resolutions were passed on 9 topics at the General Assembly on the final day.
Many months of preparation went into the event. In October the invitations were released, and the website and application portal prepared. In November and December the student leaders held trials in MUN club to select the committee chairs, providing written feedback to all applicants. From January purchases of equipment were made (including the famous wristbands), invoices sent, schools allocated to delegations and Secretariat teams selected. By February we were in full preparation mode, meeting with Catering, Estates and IT, deciding which charities to support, training the Press and Media teams, and dealing with individual school’s special requests. Field Day in early March saw the bag-packing, the first of the great Instagram videos, and the emergence of the special teamwork atmosphere that really made the dreamwork.
Our student leaders were superb. The team was Aryan (U6J1) Julien (U6H1) George (U6J1) Lucas (U6H1) Temi, Talia and Lauren (all U6 Girls’ School) and Kazim (U6C2). They were supported by 13 Boys School Chairs, four Girls School Chairs, and a team of 35 helpers without whom the conference could not have run. Thank you to the Heads of Departments Anurag (L6J1) Stefano (U6C1) Oliver (L6H2) Noah (U6J1) and Kai (L6J2).
The delegation of Japan (Watford Grammar Boys’) were awarded the Best Delegation. New friends were made, horse heads and goats made appearances, Cornelius was crowned the Karaoke King, and the personal, political and fun-filled fruitful debates contributed to our special weekend of HabsMUN 2022. Thank you everyone!
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