Speeches were presented, resolutions amended, and much robust discussion had, when the inaugural UN Youth NSW road trip stopped at St Catherine’s Catholic College on Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The purpose of the trip was to bring their annual Evatt and Voice competitions to students in regional areas.
Evatt is a model UN security council diplomacy competition that involves students from Year 9 -12 taking part in a mock session.
Teams of two students debate, amend, and vote on a prepared resolution from the perspective of their assigned nation.
While Voice is a unique public speaking competition for students in Year 7-10 where they address the big issues, ranging from homelessness to climate change.
This first was facilitated by one of the school’s former students, Jamison Anderson, who in January travelled to the Middle East as a part of a UN Youth delegation and has now taken on the newly created position of regional officer with the organisation.
Three Year 9 students, Kirby Egan, Lily Wetherspoon-Mills and Olivia Anderson, participated in the public speaking competition.
Tackling complex issues such as illicit drugs, access to education for woman, and how we can reform testing in the education system.
After this the Evatt teams took to the floor representing the United States (Sam O’Brien and Jack Godschalk), Russia (Tom Hull and Makayhla Lavellee), Ukraine (George Davis and Riley Hungerford) and China (Anya Morris and Josh Brown).
Some animated discussions ensued as they debated resolutions concerning controversial topics like “Russia’s interference in American presidential election of 2016”.
UN Youth senior facilitator Samantha Herbert was “really impressed with the research the teams had undertaken”.