FUTURE LEADERS
Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School teacher Hugues Bertrand, centre, addresses students during Tuesday’s Model UN in Pierrefonds as Sheila Zordok, left, Norman Horner and Maria Dupont look on.
A Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School student with blue hair and a determined demeanour stops a fellow student wearing a tie and business attire. “Are you China?” “Yes.” “I’m Brazil. We want you on our side for our water resolution.” “We’re leaning more towards Russia. Where’s the money? I ain’t giving anything away for free.” “But we have so much water. How about we amend our resolutions together?” “No. Water wash. Think water wash.” The guy in the tie moves on. Brazil searches for another potential ally. It’s first thing in the morning and 250 Grade 11 students from PCHS and Lindsay Place High School are in intense networking mode. Only minutes remain before the official Model UN event begins. Retired teacher and Model UN chair Norman Horner is onstage, ready to officiate. Three big screens project the Model UN logo and images of flowing water. The students are poised to begin two days of discussions, debates, cajoling and convincing with the goal of creating resolutions that could change the way the world uses its natural resources, treats its citizens and protects its borders. Four-person delegations representing 55 countries sit in their designated sections. It is time to begin. Everybody stands for the national anthem. PCHS principal Colleen Galley takes the podium. “I welcome tomorrow’s leaders to today’s Model UN … You are a generation of difference makers.”