On Friday August 5th and Saturday 6th, a group of fourteen students of years 11 and 12 participated in the first ESSARP MODEL UN (EMUN) held at St. George’s School, Quilmes. Sixteen bilingual schools of the River Plate -including Uruguay- took part of the event, the first one to be held completely in English. It was a great experience for the pupils, as they had the opportunity to deal with actual issues that United Nations are discussing these days, such as the political situation in Libya or the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. As the St. Andrew’s students were a big group, they represented the delegations of three different countries: France, Egypt and Palestine. In the several forums – Security Council, Environment, Special Politics- they had to stand for the real position of these countries through intense processes of lobbying and debate.
Apart from the public speaking and negotiation skills displayed by the students, it was a big opportunity for them – due to the previous training in the months before the event, and the rich discussions held during the meetings - to get involved in a multicultural view of reality.
The enthusiasm showed by all the participants both in the formal and informal moments (Friday debates closed with a rock concert and a pizza party) reinforced in the organizers the idea of repeating the event next year.