Students from Grade 10 and Grade 11 went on a trip to the International School of Stuttgart for Model United Nations (MUNISS) in April.

Putting ourselves in the shoes of ambassadors from all over the world, we debated about the balance and distribution of power around the world, focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goal #16: “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” within different UN bodies.

We formed alliances while standing up for the values and opinions of the countries we represented. At the opening ceremony we were greeted by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock via a personal video wishing us good luck and success.

We also had workshops and speeches from several prominent people such as Mr. Gregory D. Thome, a former US Senior Foreign Service Officer, Mr. Rainer Wieland, the Vice President of the European Parliament, and Mrs. Sandra Boser, the Staatssekretärin Kultursministerium Baden-Württemberg.

We learned a lot about how new resolutions are passed; first comes lobbying, or unmoderated caucus, in which alliances are formed and resolutions are discussed, and after they are submitted, the main submitter presents their resolution. All countries can come up with amendments, and vigorous debating ensues as each country tries to defend their own interests. Then, most importantly, comes the voting. The admins secure the door, votes are counted, and if the resolution passes, “clapping is in order”!

During all that, we got some very funny, controversial speeches from our floating delegates, wrote gossip for our gossip boxes and came up with creative punishments for those delegates who dared to show up late. Our favourites? A live enactment of Romeo and Juliet, multiple proposals, and a very public, dramatic break-up.

We made lots of new friends, with schools from all over Germany and Europe gathering at the International School of Stuttgart for this unique experience, and we didn’t only make speeches and resolution papers. Friday, we met in a club in downtown Stuttgart with everyone from MUNISS and danced the night away.

As a highlight at the end of a four day eventful conference we had the Closing Ceremony, with a very funny video of the past weekend, and most importantly, the announcement of the “Best Delegate” in each committee. We’re very proud to have three of our Delegates, Luisa Roth (G11) as delegate of Saudi Arabia in General Assembly 1, Logan Anderson (G11) as delegate of Costa Rica in UNESCO, and Aadi Vaze (G10) as delegate of France in General Assembly 3 receive the honour of ‘ Best Delegate’.

All in all, it was an unforgettable experience and a unique insight for us into how diplomacy and world politics work!

Ella, Grade 11