By Dora Kolose
MUNA Press Team

Re-enactments, roleplays, debates and more. Over the course of two days, WGHS contributed three delegate teams (Greece, Tunisia and Yemen), and a press Team of 11 members (pictured right), to the Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA), held on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 May at Auckland Girls Grammar School.

MUNA is a programme founded by the Rotary Service Organisations to provide youth with a chance to learn, experience and understand the workings of United Nations (UN) summits and meetings. 

What happens during a MUNA?

Well a lot! This year’s MUNA had 46 schools participating with 92 Country Delegates. It was a long awaited event, following the cancellation of last year’s MUNA as a result of Covid. A new wave of excitement, nervousness and tension was clearly present throughout the two days, as delegates were eager to get back into the swing of things. MUNA helps the next generation of future leaders to understand the processes and protocols of UN meetings. This includes Point of Informtions, Motion of Censures, Impromptu Debates and Voting. MUNA showcases the wits and passion of the various delegates towards the country they represent.

It was also great to meet new people and make friends. From breakfeast in the foyer to meetings in the breakout rooms, participants were able to mingle and chat with students from other schools. Alliances also formed between delegates in the General Assembly.

Leading up to the event, we spent several weeks preparing with our supervising teachers. Our delegate teams gathered every Monday lunchtime to rehearse, plan and research for the various remits and the 2-minute speeches that would follow each remit. Our Press Team also met each Monday lunchtime to allocate reporters to each bloc of countries and research the issues that surround each nation in that bloc. Of course these lunchtimes and the MUNA days themselves wouldn’t have been half as productive and fun if it weren’t for the crucial guidance and support of our teachers: Ms McRae, Ms Wilson, Ms Andrews and Ms Brown – along with our inspiring guest speaker and speech delivery advisor, Ms Cannan. 

From co-ordinated outfits to united stances whilst presenting their take on their remits of interest, Greece, Yemen and Tunisia were well represented by Westlake students.

Some of the highlights were:

• Greece approved Remit 5 that implied the UN should take action to regulate the amount of carbon emissions a country produces.
• Our Yemenese women took a strong stance on the need to improve and expand the World Food Programme throughout the globe saying, “Yemen deserves better – our people deserve better”.
• Tunisia’s approach to Remit 3 was startling, with a quickfire response to Belgium’s accusation of “How do you raise a child when the village is corrupt?” The team told Belgium that corruption arose from colonisation, from European countries such as themselves. 

It was a great two days and we all came home happy – especially with one of our Tunisian delegates, Ivy Mitchell, named runner-up to the Most Engaging Speaker.

Yemen (above left) – pictured from left: Clover Huang, Jacqueline Ramos, Jasmine Tsai.
Tunisia (above right) – pictured from left: Ivy Michell, Parmida Raeis-Hosseini, Stella Lang

Greece – pictured from left: (Ariana Aminian, Rachel Li, Lunar Watanabe)

The Press Team were: Dora Kolose, Lauren Jackson, Kirsten Abustan, Kristy Zhang, Zara Zayed Shreyoshi, Isabella Drummond, Adriana Tobin, Sophia Santayana, Micah De Leon, Nicole Xie, Isabelle Lee.