As part of Nord Anglia Education’s collaboration with UNICEF, students across the globe have been raising awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through projects at their schools. The SDGs are a collection of 17 goals set by the United Nations regarding social and economic development issues.
Each year, the capstone event with UNICEF is when students from Years 10-12 visit New York for the NAE-UNICEF Student Summit. Held this year from 11 to 17 July, PBIS student ambassadors, Jefta Timmer, Adam Vittek and Ilike Kumsova, attended the event and took a lead role in demonstrating how our school has made progress in addressing the SDGs as part of NAE’s annual Global Challenge. The students shared their global goals teaching project and discussed our key stage 3 students’ advocacy and support for refugees in collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency.
Part of the summit also involved an MUN event, held over two days at NAIS NY. Our students acted as representatives of different nations and debated resolutions. This year, three NAE students acted as Deputy MUN Chairs alongside our main MUN Chairs from New York University. All three PBIS students were very successful at the event, with Adam Vittek winning the best delegate award for his committee.
NAE student panelists were also chosen to speak at the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) during a side event.. They were part of two panels sharing how they are taking steps to make the world a better place through the SDGs. However, the highlight of the HLPF for our school was when our very own student, Ilike, was asked to launch EcoSoc on 16th July with 4 other students from around the world. Ilike spoke at the iconic General Assembly hall to an audience of more than 2000 international delegates. You can listen to her inspiring speech on the power of international education here.
Jefta and Adam also had important roles during the HLPF. They worked as delegates showcasing the winners from Nord Anglia’s Global Campus Visual Arts competition as a part of a special Arts Exhibition at the United Nations. A number of students also worked as student journalists during the week to create short films about the event. You can find Ilike’s film from the first day of the summit here.
Jefta, Adam and Ilike have now been tasked with sharing all the different things they learnt during the summit with all PBIS students over the next academic year. They’ll be taking a lead role in working on the Global Challenge, but also helping a new set of Student Ambassadors to take over their work over the coming months. Watch this space to see what they are planning to do to target the global goals.
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Come on, it’s not rocket science. For some people it is! A 2022 graduate from PBIS, Ilyes is currently working on his bachelor's degree with a focus on mechanical engineering, physics, and computer science at Sorbonne University in Paris. Apart from his academic work, he’s also working on a modest side project: developing a jet engine. His approach, in his own words, is to “learn as much as possible about everything” so he can apply his knowledge to real-world situations and make the world a smarter, better place.
