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Over a period of six days, students from Kaiserslautern and Ramstein high schools attended the 24th annual international Model United Nations conference in Dublin, Ireland, hosted by Ireland’s Saint Andrew’s College.
The trip, from March 28 to April 2, required the nearly 40 students to use their MUN skills, which they had been perfecting for almost seven months to participate in friendly debate with more than 500 students from around the globe regarding real-time issues ranging from the illicit drug trade in Afghanistan to the question of weapons in outer space.
Before attending the conference, each student was required to write a resolution targeted toward solving their specific topic in regards to what the country they were representing truly believed in. Once in Ireland, the students had to gain support for their resolution from other students and sometimes even chose to collaborate with other students with the same topic to perfect their resolution.
If a resolution was good enough, the resolution would be debated within the committee it pertained to, such as Health and Youth and Human Rights, which consisted of a panel of about 100 students each representing their designated country. From there, if the resolution was passed, it would be sent to the General Assembly where it would be debated by all committees, which exceeded 300 students at one time. If the resolution passed, it would be sent to the actual United Nations in either New York City or The Hague in Holland where it could be used in implementing a solution to one of the many problems plaguing the UN.
The conference, which was held at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, a suburb of Dublin, was bustling with students from schools as far away as Cairo and Dubai. All students were required to speak in English during formal debate, however languages from all over the globe could be heard during casual conversations.
During conference recess, students had the chance to mingle with other students and to explore Ireland. The conference also hosted a dance the final night where the attending schools could take off their suits and ties and put on their dancing shoes and blue jeans for a night of fun that everyone would remember.
The final day of the trip, the students from Ramstein and Kaiserslautern were treated with a day tour of the Irish countryside, which included a tour of a 12th century fortress and the chance to feed the hungry Irish sea lions that patiently waited in the bay.
The trip to Ireland was in all very successful with a few students even getting their resolutions passed in the General Assembly. The students gained experience and new friends as well as memories that will never be forgotten. Next year, both schools are planning to attend the conference once again, this time hoping to have a combined attendance of more than 50 students.
