28 Aug 2020 | By Kai Matus (IB-1) & Jeff Troyer
On the 20th of June, after months of planning, GESM proudly hosted our first ever virtual Model United Nations conference. Within weeks of announcing the event, we had more than thirty-five schools registered for our event with a total of eight different countries participating!
The conference started off with a motivational and informative speech by none other than Kai Matus, acting Secretary General of the GESM MUN ONLINE 2020, who welcomed over sixty participants to our conference. The speech discussed the importance of communication and collaboration in light of COVID-19 and how the topics of debate for the coming conference were closely related to everyone’s “new normal”.
After this speech, the virtual conference call was divided into different committees. The chairs of each committee which included Human Rights Council, Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, then gave a welcoming speech and started the debate. A familiar face was present amongst the sea of delegates, our very own IBDP GESM graduate and former GESMMUN Secretary General Jonas Simorangkir, was the chair of the UN Security Council committee. Jonas, we are proud to add, has been appointed as MUN Secretary General of the Swiss-German University in Tangerang, Indonesia.
The day proceeded with the usual introduction of resolutions, caucusing and heated debate culminating in the presentation of awards for the best delegate as well as honorable mention in every committee.
Kudos go out to our fantastic core leadership of students that worked tirelessly to make the event a resounding success: Head of Communications – Shraddha Puri; Deputy Secretary General – Billy Wootton and Secretary General – Kai Matus.
With the experience from hosting this online event, we hope to host another online conference in 2021. But first up, is our annual MUN Locals on October 9th and 10th. This year’s edition is hosted by BSM and will no doubt be another great opportunity to showcase our student’s knowledge of current events while helping to make our world a better place through dialogue and understanding.
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