Our Model United Nations delegates have had a fantastic time in Bilbao for this year's first MUN conference!
Upon arrival in Spain, our delegates were lucky enough to have a chance to explore the beautiful city of Bilbao, prior to the official MUN conference start. It was really a day for the students to step into their new environments, which was quite exciting and also a bit nerve-wracking.
Taking a bus through the rolling hills of Bilbao and into the architecture-rich city centre, they visited the famous Guggenheim museum, which sparked a lot of interesting discussions about what art can and should represent. They then went to see the Old District of Bilbao, and although the rainy weather meant that it wasn't the tour of the 7 Streets they had hoped for, our delegates made the most of their day enjoying different local tapas and desserts for lunch before diving into the world of MUN.
Experiencing the Bilbao MUN Opening Ceremony at the University of Deusto felt very grand, with students present from a collective of 22 different schools across Europe. Two of our Britannica MUN delegates, Morris and Ain were able to deliver their speeches to a hall filled with people, which was a great honour, and they did brilliantly!
The first full day of MUN conferencing at Colegio Alayde lasted nearly 10 hours, and by the end of the day, all students had become fully immersed in the process, debating and giving speeches on issues such as overpopulation in the Youth Committee, collaborating to form draft resolutions on the conflict in Kashmir in SPECPOL, raising points of information about oppression of women under the Taliban in the SDG Committee, and trying to form consensus on what to do about thawing Arctic permafrost.
Mrs Chloe BurnsBritannica MUN Faculty AdvisorThe second full day of an MUN conference is always one in which students really start to shine, and this conference was no exception. In every committee I visited, I saw our Britannica delegates making speeches, raising valid POIs, putting forward and passing resolutions, and creating amendments to improve the quality of debate. Many of the teachers from other schools made mention to me about how well our students were doing, which is a high compliment!
In the General Assembly session on the final day of the Conference, one resolution from each committee was debated and voted on by the entirety of the students at the conference. The students all sat together in their individual country delegations, and our teachers were impressed with their focus and patience, their commitment to want to be respectful and diplomatic at all times, and the maturity with which they handled themselves in a large group. We could not have asked for better Britannica MUN delegates!
A huge congratulations to three of our students who were given awards at the Closing Ceremonies:
- Csilla, Indonesia, SPECPOL for Best Position Paper
- Janhavi, Ecuador, Security Council for Best Position Paper
- Chenrui, Indonesia, Youth Committee for Best Delegate
It is also important to highlight Zhian, Norway, Arctic Council, with a Special Mention as a, 'Delegate who was engaged fully with matters of the committee.'
Ivor, Ryan, and Jenny in the Youth Committee should also get a special mention, as each got their resolutions passed and each made significant contributions to their committee.
We hope that through this conference our Britannica MUN delegates have gained a deeper appreciation for the countries they represented, the diversity of issues our world faces, and for the immense work processes that go on behind the scenes to try and fix these issues. They were certainly able to make a lot of new friends during the conference, interacting with others from all around Europe, and gaining valuable learning and leadership experiences that will be useful for them as they look to apply to universities and beyond.
