Owen Sound District students become UN negotiators at model assembly
A team of students from Owen Sound District Secondary School has received a crash course into the inner workings of the United Nations.
The team of eight Grade 10-13 students from the Owen Sound school joined hundreds of their peers at the three-day Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly at the University of Toronto recently, participating as delegates of various countries and increasing their awareness of world issues and global relations.
On Thursday the students reminisced about the experiences they had and the skills they learned during the event, which ran April 29 to May 1.
“Socializing and public speaking was such a big part of it, working together, co-operating and taking people's ideas, getting their input and getting advice,” said Parker Davis, a Grade 12 student who served as the delegate for Ukraine. “We worked together as a group to create working papers and then resolution papers, trying to collaborate to solve issues.”
Lachlan Shute, a Grade 12 student who was the delegate for the Kingdom of Morocco, said participating in the model assembly had him wondering what the world would be like if the United Nations was as successful as the youth were at hammering out their difference.
“Imagine what it could be like,” Shute said. “We just need a bunch of 17- and 18-year-olds to be actual country delegates.”
Shute said the experience was a lot of fun and he learned much from it.
“I personally don't plan on becoming a delegate in the United Nations someday, but I want to do this again next year if I can because the skills you learn just by going and the experiences you gain are definitely applicable in real life,” he said.
SOMA, which was founded in 1972, welcomes more than 600 delegates annually to Toronto, where the students participate in various committees, hear from speakers and network with other youth. The event is put on by University of Toronto Schools, an independent school for students in grades 7 to 12 that is affiliated with U of T.
This year's model assembly was the first time OSDSS has sent a team.
It was initiated by French Language and Social Studies teacher Laura Sparling, who thought it would be a great learning opportunity for the students. It was advertised throughout the school, interested students came forward, a model UN club was formed, and participants began to meet to learn and prepare for the assembly.
“I told them they should try to be experts on the politics, the economy, the culture, the geography of these countries,” Sparling said.
At the assembly, Shute said he ended up learning a lot about other countries represented.
“I learned stuff about Singapore I never knew and it was only because the delegate there was educated on a country that wasn't mine,” said Shute. “It was a good learning experience.”
Shute sat on the United Nations Committee of Trade and Development, which discussed a number of topics, including the global energy crisis. The delegates discussed how energy needs impacted their countries, and solutions that could help them. Eventually they settled on a resolution calling for the largest consumers of fossil fuels to slowly cut their use, creating a global stock that would allow developing countries to access fuel cheaper and easier, which would allow them to convert to more renewables. Over time the global shift to renewable energy would become more attainable.
Davis, 18, represented Ukraine in General Assembly 1, which focused on topics including refugees in conflict zones, pandemic protocols and revisiting the Paris Climate Agreement. Davis said he ended up working with delegates from other countries, such as Poland, to address the issue of refugees in conflict zones, a topic that is prominent in Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion of the country.
“As the delegate of Ukraine I learned a lot about Ukraine, but it was helpful to be one of those countries that is in the news a lot,” said Davis, 18. “It sort of overshadowed what is happening in Gaza, but people brought that up, which was good.
“I didn't know what countries like Qatar were experiencing, so you get an aspect of what other counties are going through that aren't in the forefront of the news.”
Along with Morocco and Ukraine, the OSDSS students represented the United Kingdom, Mexico, Egypt, Chile, Indonesia and Congo.
Owen Macintyre, 16, was the only Grade 10 student from OSDSS participating as the delegate from Indonesia.
He said everyone involved was very friendly. He called it one of the best experiences of his life and he hopes to do it again.
“It is nice to know there are other people around the province who share similar interests as us,” Macintyre said. “I am big into history and politics so I really like the aspect of that.
“Just staying at the university was absolutely fantastic.”
Sydney Belbeck, a Grade 12 student, was the delegate from Egypt.
Belbeck said the experience was different than she expected, but in a good way.
“It was definitely more collaborative than I thought it was going to be,” said Belbeck, 17. “I was prepared for it being more independent, but it was very collaborative and I am already having memories about it.”
Belbeck said it was interesting to see the students become completely immersed in their roles as delegates.
“When they were in their role as delegates they took on a different character than when you meet them outside of it,” said Belbeck. “They were playing their role really well.”
Shute said the biggest takeaway from the whole experience was being able to get exposure to what university life will be like.
“You get put into Toronto, you get put into a committee, you are separated from your school and you are forced to meet new people and you are even put in a university class,” said Shute. “I would say that is the closest you would get to what university is like and I can say confidently that after that I am a lot more prepared for university, especially the social aspect of it.”
The students said that because they were all new to the experience there were a lot of jitters at the start, but with experience came more comfort. Students from other schools who had participated in the past were always willing to help.
“The people who had gone to many were honestly some of the most supportive there,” said Shute. “Any time I got lost, which happened a couple times, I just wrote a little note with the notepad they gave us asking Germany to explain something, and they were always super friendly about it. “That was very appreciated.” The youth were already planning their strategies if they are to take part in a model assembly again next year.
“I would take more of an aggressive approach,” said Davis. “Learning the process was the main point of it and we will take that to what we do next year.”
“I will be doing a lot more speaking next year,” Shute added. “The experience we have now will just make next year all the more successful.”
Meanwhile, another group of OSDSS students formed a mock trial team for the first time at the school this year.
The team recently competed in a mock trial at the Owen Sound courthouse against an experienced Saugeen District team as a practice run, with plans to register for the central southwestern Ontario tournament in London next year. The program is run by the Ontario Justice Education Network, which assists the schools in accessing lawyers and crown attorneys to teach them about the court system.
Teacher Natasha Wood called this year's team trailblazers for the school, playing the roles of witnesses, lawyers and court staff in a second degree murder case.
“We are just getting it off the ground and building the club this year,” Wood said. “Saugeen helped us a lot this year, which was really nice of them, and we are looking at being stronger next year.”
Wood said she was very proud of the students who participated in the fledgling program, some who had never even taken a law course before.
“Overall our students put a lot of work into it and I was really proud of them,” Wood said.