STARRING AT THE SUN
Sarah White 20, and Shinae Haidley 20 of Bond University recently spoke at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
BEING 20 years old is no walk in the park for university students with exams, deadlines and imminent job hunting.
Sarah White and Shinae Haidley already have their feet well inside the door of their future careers, scoring a chance to travel to New York City to deliver a speech to a global United Nations’ conference.
Before being selected to attend, they took part in a competitive three-step admissions process including resumes, interviews, and a review of their work.
White, with a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, was motivated to attend the conference because she eventually hopes to work for the Australian UN.
“It was a really tricky process,” she said. “I knew this opportunity would support my studies and give me insight into a career for the UN.”
She is now undertaking a Bachelor of Communication from Bond and hopes that both degrees will support her future career in this field.
Haidley described a similar process with her admissions, being overseas the three rounds of admissions were more challenging.
“I had to do a Skype interview,” Haidley said.
“In the end, the hard process made it feel even more special to be accepted.”
Haidley is finishing her Bachelor of Law and International Relations from Bond University and hopes to work in diplomacy. She has held four internships involving diplomacy and peace-building.
There were about 1000 students selected to attend the conference, including four from Bond University.
These students were able to tour the city, meet Bond alumni who are settled in NYC, as well as tour the UN building.
Haidley enjoyed meeting with diplomats, noting how insightful their lectures were.
“It was interesting meeting with diplomats who were working,” she said.
One of the best experiences both women had while at the conference was the opportunity to deliver a speech at the Opening Plenary at the UN General Assembly.
They were assigned to speak about sustainable peace from the perspective of different nations, White representing Estonia and Haidley representing Laos.
Out of the 1000 students, only 12 of them were able to make a speech – White and Haidley securing two of those coveted spots.
Although they described the opportunity to make a speech as their favourite part, the pair also enjoyed indulging in all NYC could offer.
White and Haidley, having ventured to NYC before, enjoyed trying new restaurants and meeting new people.
“We ate at an Italian restaurant a few times while we were there,” White said.
“The people were friendly and I had a great time.”
If the pair had a chance to travel to the conference again they would gladly accept the offer, but would love to see other students get the opportunity they had.
Although White and Haidley are graduating at the end of this year, their experiences at the UN conference gave them a look into the life of their future career.
The 12-day UN conference, which ran in early February, occurs every year for more hopefuls looking to follow in the steps of White and Haidley.