BSB Delegates at the HKMUN and BEIMUN March 2024

Our students represented BSB in 2 different Model United Nations (MUN) in Hong Kong and in Beijing in March. Both events proved to be an exhilarating experience for those who participated. BSB offers our students a wide range of Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) to discover new talents, nurture passions and explore the world beyond their locale.

Let’s hear from Lily and Wendy why they are passionate about MUN and what inspired them to keep the flame burning.

BEIMUN 2024 - Written by Year 11 student Lily Kim

What is MUN?

MUN stands for Model United Nations where students follow UN conference procedure to create the best possible resolution which addresses the global issues. The conference usually spans for around 3 days of active debate which enhances students’ public speaking skills and critical thinking. Many students who would like to pursue careers related to humanities join MUN. In fact, many secretary-generals working in world organisations were part of MUN community in their high school era. Many students benefit from this activity as it is an excellent extra-curriculum activity to be written on university application.

BEIMUN held in Beijing from 13^th – 17^th March, was participated by student delegates from over 30 different schools all around the world ranging from Fiji to Russia. Lily Kim (Year 11) participated as the sole delegate representing BSB. In total, she made 37 POIs (point of information) and 28 speeches within nearly 20 hours of conference time.

Award

As it was only her 3rd MUN experience, she was not expecting to receive any diplomatic awards. However, in the end, she was awarded with the “Most Passionate Delegation Award”, honourably representing the BSB community.

She stated that “I loved how students from all around the world gathered in one conference room and shared their innovative ideas. I was astonished and inspired by their passion and high-quality speech and POI.”

The MUN conference has been a meaningful experience for Lily as she was able to interact and build international relationship with people full of passion and devotion.

She also stated that “I was able to apply my knowledge from economics class as I was in the Economic and Social Council. By backing up with data and knowledge, I could produce persuasive speech that impressed the committee and chairs.”

Next step

Lastly, she added that “I hope I could share this precious opportunity with BSB community. As our MUN team is still not developed fully yet, I want to encourage more students to join MUN to create and build BSB’s MUN Club together”. They are planning to restore BRITMUN back at BSB which will be a wonderful chance for different schools to come over to BSB for MUN.

Hong Kong MUN - Written by Year 11 Wendy Chen

On 14^th March, Jenny, Jeremy, Miu Miu, Keira and Bruce from Year 7 with Jihyeon, Wendy and Xiyi from Years 11 and 12 travelled to Hong Kong to attend the Hong Kong Model United Nations (HKMUN) under the supervision of Mr Cusack and Ms Lara. The HKMUN is the largest and oldest MUN held in Hong Kong.

Seven of our students participated in three beginner committees, including the General Assembly, Human Rights Council, and World Health Organization. One student engaged in debate of an advanced committee, the Historical Security Council. We received many positive comments about our delegates from the Chair’s feedback. The Chairs credited our delegates with “high-quality questions, eloquent speeches, passionate engagement in the debate, vivid confidence, and astounding public speaking skills.”

Many first-timers of MUN have found this conference interesting. Some students who were ambivalent about their interest in MUN had their passion for the activity sparked by this conference. They found the focus on global issues through debate captivating and crucial.

With the theme of the conference being “Pathways to Progress”, our delegates proposed solutions to past and present topics about peace, equality, rights, health, and many other significant elements contributing to the prosperous development of the world. Within the committees, our understanding of the world was widened and deepened. We obtained a profound comprehension of the past, present, and future of the world through debates on current issues and past conflicts.

Diversity and Respect

Outside the committees, our students made friends from all over the world. We met students from varied cultural and ideological backgrounds, each bringing unique perspectives to our shared passion for Model United Nations. Hong Kong is a very different environment from Beijing. Through dynamic debates and conversations, we understood how different perspectives develop and why they differ.

Pathways to Progress

“Pathways to Progress” was the centre around which all debate revolved, reminding us of the urgent need to proceed in the development of the world. Although we couldn't impose our ideas in real life, the youth population has placed down another puzzle piece of the blueprint for global development.

The next generation 

In the opening ceremony, the co-founder of ITS Education Asia, Mr Danny Harrington, made a speech. When we had a chance to ask questions, BSB student Wendy asked Mr Harrington: "What do you think is the importance and role of the youth population for the development of the world?"

Mr Harrington explained that the youth population is undoubtedly and undeniably crucial to the world. As the next generation of the world, Mr Harrington saw hope in us simply because we were sitting in the opening ceremony, ready to think about solutions to global issues.

Next step

We will keep the flame of hope in our generation burning. We will continue to develop our MUN programme both for the sake of the enthusiastic participants and the world. The HKMUN was an exquisite demonstration of our passion.