It was the realization of months of hard work and planning when the group of 20 Trent University students made the six hour trek by bus from Peterborough to Montreal to take part in the twenty-first edition of the Model United Nations conference.
McGill’s McMUN drew participants from many of the Ivy League schools in the United States as well as top universities from across Canada. This then, was an ideal backdrop against which to see the revitalization and resurgence of the Model UN group at Trent which was spearheaded by fourth-year students Nejat Abdella and Gemma Edwin.
McMUN 2012 offered the delegates an opportunity to engage in provocative debates and simulations around major world issues. Representing different countries or individuals, the delegates had to argue positions on issues ranging from human rights, religion, development, economics, or even the Libyan crisis. Throughout the process the representatives learnt not only valuable debating and public speaking skills, but also the true nature of diplomacy as they were forced to work with other country or company representatives to draft and pass resolutions. This underscored for most of the delegates the importance of dialogue and diplomacy in an organisation like the UN, which has so many countries with divergent and often conflicting views and positions.
The Trent delegation certainly made its presence felt among the over 1300 students at the January 26-29 conference, with one representative, Sheldon Willerton, receiving an honourable mention at the closing awards ceremony, for his representation of Qatar in the Joint Triple Crisis on Libya Committee.
One other member of the contingent, Sarah Knowles, was part of the team which drafted a resolution that so impressed her Committee that they decided it was worthy of forwarding on to the actual UN committee.
With delegates representing 13 different countries, and the majority of students in first or second year, there is evidently great enthusiasm on the Trent Model UN team. Such diversity certainly augurs well for the continued success of the group here in Peterborough.
While there were some difficulties in funding the effort, with students having to cover some of the costs themselves, the delegates were committed to representing their university well and being proud ambassadors for their school. Their efforts will continue as a representative group has committed to paying their own way to represent Trent Model UN at the University of Toronto conference to be held later this month. The next major stop after that will be the National Model UN in New York City in April.
