Students from BIS Abu Dhabi return from trip to United Nations in New York

Students from BIS Abu Dhabi return from trip to United Nations in New York Year 12 students Solenn, Asim and Omar have represented The British International School Abu Dhabi at the NAE-UNICEF Student Summit in New York City. It was a productive week of learning about and discussing the Global Goals and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As part of Nord Anglia Education’s (NAE) collaboration with UNICEF, students across the globe have been raising awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through projects at their schools. Each year, the capstone event is when students visit New York for the Nord Anglia Education  -UNICEF Student Summit. This year, Year 12 students Solenn, Asim and Omar represented The British International School Abu Dhabi at the NAE-UNICEF Student Summit in New York City.

Held at the Nord Anglia International School New York (NAISNY), student ambassadors at the Summit demonstrated how their schools have made progress in addressing the SDGs as part of Nord Anglia Education’s annual Global Challenge.

Altogether, more than 80 NAE students from around the world were in attendance. Students took part in a two-day Model United Nations alongside local students from NAISNY. They also visited UNICEF House where they listened to presentations by UNICEF campaign managers about projects supporting Global Goals 4: Quality Education.  

In response, our students were impressive in sharing their own thoughts and experiences about this aim and in vocalizing what they have done in order to help support access to education within their school communities. 

Students participated in a tour of the United Nations building and were able to visit the General Assembly chamber as well as witness the ECOSOC in session. They were also involved in a workshop with UNICEF on how they can promote the Global Goals in schools for World Children’s Day in November.
 
On the final day, after two NAE students spoke to the UN General Assembly in the HLSP opening ceremony, they had the privilege of attending the Higher Level Political Forum side event at UNICEF. Here they witnessed inspirational speeches including one from the Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, and a very special guest appearance from renowned film and TV writer/director Richard Curtis. 

The final evening saw students attend The Julliard for a gala dinner. In attendance were distinguished guests from UNICEF, MIT, The Juilliard, and NAEs CEO, Andrew Fitzmaurice. This was a lovely end to what has been an intense, engaging, inspirational and immensely fun week.