Students prepare for Model United Nations at the Baltic Sea

In March of this year, students transformed into delegates at the Model United Nations assembly in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This activity was a first for TGS, one widely heralded as a worthwhile experience. This month, 19 of our students returned to the action at BALMUN (Baltic MUN) conference in Rostock, Germany. Four other students acted as TGS press and documented the experience with articles, photography, and film. The following are their published works from the first half of the conference.

Pre-conference

by Gawa S.

EVERYONE SCRAMBLES around the room, trying to get organized into their committees. We’re leaving for our second Model United Nations Conference tomorrow, and the students are working hard to get in some last minute research done for the upcoming weekend.

“I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I love MUN.” -Alice, Class of 2014

“I’m a bit nervous.” -Yada, Class of 2014

“Tomorrow, I’ll freestyle it.” -David, Class of 2014

“I’m really excited because this is the first time I’m participating on my own.” -Pema, Class of 2014

“I’m really excited, but it’s going to be hard for me. I’m going against my own country. It’s going to be a challenge.” -Anat, Class of 2014

“I feel excited to see what my fellow classmates have produced in the previous weeks of intense and in-depth studying. I hope to see a lot of interactions and am looking forward to comparing this conference to the last one.” -Rebecca, Class of 2015

“I think it’s really good because it gets students more aware of global issues and countries’ stances on those issues.” -Brad, ResLIFE Advisor

The night before MUN

by Liam A.

STUDENTS OF TGS are hard at work doing last minute research for tomorrow’s conference.

A brief interview with delegate A’ntonia reveals her thoughts and queries of the meeting with the other delegates attending the BALMUN conference.

I feel slightly intimidated, everyone was really tall, looked intelligent and seemed much older than we were. I dont think that they will really be that threatening though. Usually when one thinks something, the truth proves to be the opposite. I’m worried though that another delegate will make a statement which I am completely unprepared for.

The delegates seemed, at first impressions, quite well-prepared, friendly, and excited to be a part of this MUN conference. Let’s hope our TGS delegates can really argue up a storm.

Coverage of day 1 at BALMUN

by Rebecca G.

A sneak-peek into the first day of the BALMUN conference.

The first day of MUN

by Gawa S.
THE SESSION BEGINS with roll call. Students stand in front of their country placard.

“Australia?”
“Present.”

Each delegation is recognized, and the meeting is called into place. The Chair of the Disarmament Committee begins with an icebreaker. “In my suitcase I’m bringing a sword.” The co-chair follows, “In my suitcase I’m bringing a sword and a missile.” This continued on until all 26 weapons were packed in the “suitcase” (sword, missile, bomb, AK47, Russian tank, and so on).

The committee, to explain the process to the newbies, then preformed a demo debate with this subject: should the window be open or closed? All sorts of topics were brought up, including which window to open, whether it would cause a sickness, and much more.

“Why not open the door to prevent wind?” suggested one of the delegates as a response to the delegate of Australia’s proposition to open the top window. Then another questioned, “how fresh is the air from the hallway?” This was just a warm-up to some of the discussions that went on in Disarmament Committee.

The committee then decided to move onto the lobbying procedure where the delegates separated into two groups and started presenting their resolutions to one another.

To read about the second half of the conference, visit: Debates and resolutions at BALMUN 2012.