We hosted our annual RCN Model United Nations from 1st-3rd February, including six guests from Bergen Katedralskole alongside all our first year students. The participants debated global issues similar to those discussed in the forums of the United Nations and were invited to join one of the five UN committees, or the Security Council and then spent three days trying to tackle various issues from the perspective of a UN delegate. Apart from discussion on global political issues, the conference also included activities such as day and night crisis simulations, a delegate dance and the formal dinner.

The Project Based Learning event was managed and organized almost entirely by the second-year students, who for more than six months have been working on the planning of this event. From the first training sessions in early autumn, first-year students enthusiastically took on the role of diplomats and political leaders, attending international conferences and debating issues. Students were encouraged to follow the strict procedures of RCN MUN – although there were the inevitable struggles to refer to themselves in the third person! Among the debated issues were environmental problems, human rights, peace negotiations, piracy, security and diplomacy. These important topics made the RCN MUN feel relevant.

Speaking to the delegates during the opening ceremony, Secretary General Yondeen Sherpa (Nepal) told delegates:

You will experience success, frustration, stress and excitement, but at the end of it all however, I hope each and every one of you will take away one simple thing. Inspiration. Inspiration to make a change and inspiration to be the change.

In many committees negotiations on such challenging topics were animated, starting early in the morning and continuing late into the night when delegates drafted their resolution. By using social media such as Tumblr and Facebook the RCN MUN 2014 journalists and photographers both helped and prevented the participants from developing and promoting their own solutions to pressing world problems.
On the third and final day of the RCN MUN 2014 conference, the delegates gathered in the General Assembly to present and vote on their solutions for the overarching global issues they were tasked with addressing. The General Assembly was closed with the best delegates being awarded for their performance.

First-year student Chantal Smeland from Norway had this to say:

I really liked the RCNMUN. Not only because we got a peek into the world of diplomacy and step into the shoes of ambassadors and diplomats, but also because through experience we learned  how one single nation’s decisions may affect national, regional and global politics, as well as learning more about the world today as we become an increasingly interdependent international community.

I believe the experience helped me learn how to implement my speaking skills and frame my understanding in a more efficient manner, as well as teaching me how many issues affect today’s society. I hope this will make me a more globally aware world citizen and motivate me to “be the change I wish to see in the world”

Further pictures can be found on the College facebook page here.

Lina Sadovskaja (RCN 12-14)