PRINCE ALBERT — The École St. Mary High School Model UN team had an outstanding performance at the Rotary Club Model United Nations Assembly held in Winnipeg on May 2 and 3.
Two delegations received recognition: the delegation for New Zealand, made up of Esther Akinjobi and Umer Hashim, earned the prestigious Rais Khan Award for the most diplomatic delegation. Meanwhile, the delegation of Michael Edet and Jannie Kemp representing Bangladesh received the honourable mention for the Rais Khan Award.
The school sent three delegations to the event, which allows students to showcase their interest and understanding of global issues like the movements of refugees and the use of GMOs. The other delegation was made up of sisters Sarah and Rijja Mansoor, who represented Bolivia.
Edet said the overall experience was amazing.
“There were a lot of nerves going into (the event),” he said. “We've done a couple of assemblies before, and we were told that this was the final stage, so we all went into it intending to bring our best. I think that once we were actually there, it was more relaxed.”
The St. Mary delegations were among 60 others from Northern Ontario and Manitoba.
Edet said the high level of competition brought out the best in St. Mary students.
“At the other assemblies, I'm not really sure where the bar lies, and so I don't know exactly what I need to do,” he explained. “For me, for this assembly, it felt like I knew where the bar was. I knew what I needed to do, and that made me feel more confident in my performance.”
Akinjobi said winning the Rais Khan Award was a surprise.
"I did not expect to win at all,” she said. “I feel like what motivated us the most was the fact that there were people that were very good there, and they were kind of talking down in Saskatchewan a little bit. We had to go and represent our province to win. We have to bring it, we have to bring our Saskatchewan intelligence.”
Akinjobi and Hashim each did separate resolutions in breakout groups, with Akinjobi debating the use of GMOs and Umer debating the refugee crisis.
Hashim’s subgroup was debating refugee infrastructure and how to support developing countries.
Akinjobi said that New Zealand is an island nation and kind of large, making it an interesting country to represent.
“It makes us see all spectrums,” she said. “It wasn't necessarily the biggest country there, but I think we did well with what we had,” she added.
Rijja Mansoor said being housed in dormitories over two days made for a special experience.
“We got to meet a lot of new faces and people from different countries, and there was diversity among everyone,” she said. “It was my first time living in a dorm. I was really nervous because obviously I've heard of some stuff, but they hosted us pretty well and I was happy with it …We went out, we started talking, and all of us became friends one way or another, so it was pretty nice.”
Akinjobi and Hashim are in Grade 12 and can’t return, while other students are in Grade 11 and Grade 10 and could return to Model UN if Ecole St. Mary places in the Prince Albert Model UN. This year’s Model UN was hosted at Carlton on April 3.
"You have got to beat Carlton again, I am not going to let Carlton win,” Edet said.
Akinjobi and Hashim have been invited to return as part of the chair committee in Winnipeg next year. The chair committee oversees the event.
Edet was most proud of how the Saskatchewan teams from the Prince Albert area performed and proved the doubts of other provinces wrong.
"The assembly was a bunch of people who came from all sorts of different places, and it made for an interesting dynamic, especially, as Esther said, with how they viewed us as people from smaller cities or Saskatchewan,” Edet explained. “There were some private school kids there, there were a couple of people trying to intimidate. There were a couple of people trying to force their agenda upon the entire assembly, but I'm very happy with the way it turned out because we showed those people that the loudest voice in the room isn't always the one that comes out on top, and hopefully that humbles them.”
The St. Mary team was coached by Rémi Joncas and Shae Lynn Gareau. Joncas said the performances of all teams showed the growth of the Model UN in Prince Albert.
"This is a PA dream to win a major award in Model UN. I know the Rotary Club was ecstatic. Morley Harrison contacted me from Rotary Club and on behalf of Rotary Club, he said, ‘This is great,’” Joncas said.
“It shows how the program in PA is getting bigger and better, and it seems like we're leading force in the province and in the country, which is amazing,” Joncas said.
With the success the program is experiencing, there has also been an increased level of engagement.
The level of engagement we have from the student and the staff, like from here in other schools, is amazing. It's getting better at all levels,” he said.
WP Sandin School in Shellbrook also claimed the other major award, which is the Bert Friesen Award for Most Prepared Delegation.
“I cannot speak for my colleagues from other schools, but I've seen myself, the level of like performance that has been amazingly growing in everywhere, Shellbrook, PA, Carlton, St. Mary's,” Joncas said.
