NAE-UNICEF Student Summit 2019 in New York City Updates

Held this year from 11 to 17 July, student ambassadors at the Summit will demonstrate how their schools have made progress in addressing the SDGs as part of Nord Anglia Education’s annual Global Challenge. This year, we are delighted that two of our students: Ha Minh & SungWoo are participating in the NAE-UNICEF Student Summit 2019! They have arrived in New York City and ready for a week of debating and action planning on the Global Goals! 

Day 1 

Ha Minh, SungWoo and other students from all NAE Schools started their full week of the Summit with a visit to UNICEF House and heard the sharing from Shannon O'Shea about the importance of youth advocacy and action in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. She also shared about the worldwide UNICEF campaign to end violence in and around schools ensuring that all students have safe access to education as well as the Youth Manifesto created by over 100 youth advocates in November. Collaboration is the highlight when students were led through a series of discussion activities to get them thinking deeply about the issues around how to raise awareness and take action for the SDGs. 

In the afternoon, the student ambassadors travelled to the Nord Anglia International School New York to prepare for our MUN workshops on Tuesday. Following the sessions that day, we are proud to announce that SungWoo has been selected to present at the Gala Dinner on Tuesday evening where he will share his experiences of the week and the Global Challenge in BIS Hanoi. Congratulations to you! 

Day 2

Today students began the NAE MUN, splitting into their WHO, UNICEF, and UNESCO Committees to begin debating topics such as reducing the influence of anti-vaccination campaigns and how to ensure cultural heritage is preserved during wartime. The students started the debate with their opening speeches setting their country's stance on the topics. With all their efforts, we are looking forward to a productive conference! 

To relax after a full day of debating, our students decided to dine out in the city of Manhattan. They were then go shopping and exploring the city!  

Day 3

The day continued with the NAE-MUN debate! The debate has continued to be rich and exciting, with many resolutions being passed at the end of the two days. Though the debate style has been slightly different to what our Vietnam MUN-ers are used to, the team have taken this in their stride and gotten involved in some in-depth debates. The closing ceremony took place after lunch, with the committee chairs complimenting their attitude towards debate and their collaborative approach.

In the afternoon, a World Children's Day workshop took place as preparation for the World's Largest Lesson session. Students were challenged to answer the question "What does it mean to be a child?" and identified what they believe to be the top 5 rights that children and young people should have. These were compared with the Global Goals and the rights set out by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, an agreement that celebrates its 30th birthday in November this year. The team worked to research the convention and began to discuss ideas for the schools to undertake to celebrate World Children's Day. 

In the evening, some of the students taking a walking tour of New York, others visiting the World Trade Center, and others taking in the sights of the city from the Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller centre. It will definitely be a memorable trip for all of our student ambassadors! 

Day 4

For the penultimate day of activities at the NAE-UN Student Summit, the students visited the United Nations Headquarters to learn more about the buildings and the important work that goes on inside them. This was an absolute highlight of the summit as they were given a tour through the working areas and learnt about why the United Nations was founded and how it operates. Our student ambassadors were then discovered the United Nations' 'School in a box' programme which sends resources to teachers and students in areas of need with everything needed for a class of 40 children, and saw the work being done towards reducing the negative impact of climate change.

Luckily, they were able to walk quietly through the ECOSOC chamber which was actually in session, discussing Women in Power. This was incredibly inspiring for the students to see the United Nations in action! They also spent time in the General Assembly room where Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces oversees discussion between the 193 member countries alongside Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Though they weren't there at the time, the importance of the room was clearly felt by our team! 

In the afternoon they returned to NAIS New York to take part in a workshop led by Alison Bellwood from the World's Largest Lesson. Working with Project Everyone, which was founded by director Richard Curtis, Alison challenged our students to design a communication idea to help to raise awareness of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Global Goals to celebrate World Children's Day. 

To finish the day off, our students enjoyed a trip to the Broadway show Wicked! 

Day 5

On the final day of the Summit, our students attended the High Level Political Forum side event focusing on Youth action and using the creative arts to share the message of the Global Goals. They heard speeches from UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, Film Director and founder of Project Everyone, Richard Curtis, and student winner of the UNICEF Comic Competition, Rezka, all of which were incredibly inspiring. It is clear that young people's voices are strong and should be heard, and that important people in positions of power are becoming more willing to listen and take action.

Ha Minh, Jenny, Ky Dan, Nguyen, Lily and Eugene all took part in the Sing for Hope project which opened the event. They were in a choir who sang a song with the message 'Dream Big, Speak Loud' which was very poignant. They were accompanied by a pianist playing the SDG Superhero decorated piano which is being donated by Sing for Hope to a park in New York City.

In the evening our students traveled to the Juilliard School where we held our Gala Dinner. SungWoo and Eugene gave inspiring speeches about the work of NAE students towards the Global Goals and with the message that adults need to listen to young people and take action. We also had performances from Juilliard alumni and were joined by representatives from the NAE collaborations: Juilliard, MIT and UNICEF. The students enjoyed their final evening together with a mixture of emotions.

The Summit has come to an end with excellent performances from our students! Once again, let give them a big round of applause for what they have achieved!