By Seoyun, NIS Grade 9 Student

Last weekend, NIS hosted its fourth Model United Nations conference, centring around the theme of the “Modern Renaissance.” When choosing this theme, we, the student leadership team for the conference, also known as the NISMUN Secretariat, considered the shifting world order and political turmoil our world has been facing. We wanted to ask the question: does the world need a “rebirth?”

NISMUN IV was a large conference, with 9 schools from across China participating including NIS. In addition, a handful of students from Escola Concept São Paolo also joined in on the debate, as they were in Nanjing for the GCD Up event. In total, NISMUN had over 120 student delegates debating during the conference in five committees, each debating on different world issues such as increasing biodiversity in urban areas, safeguarding the rights of asylum-seekers in Europe, and the usage of AI in military operations.

Participating students took the role of delegates of countries in the UN, drafting resolutions which proposed solutions to these issues with allied nations. During the debate, delegates defended their resolutions and proposed amendments to the resolutions of other delegates. They also made speeches convincing other delegates of the merits or drawbacks of certain resolutions. Finally, at the end of the debate for each resolution, students had to think in the perspective of the country they were representing to vote for or against its implementation.

Our student volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the conference, helping with printing resolutions, setup and cleanup, showing delegates around the NIS campus, and taking the role of admin staff in the committee rooms. Each committee was also chaired by two students: some from NIS, and some from other schools. The committee chairs facilitated the debate and kept order in their committees.

We, the Secretariat team, comprised of four students from Grades 9-12, were glad to see first-time delegates becoming familiar with the MUN process and to see delegates having fun and making connections with students from other communities. As a student-led event, our conference started being organised in March of 2024, around a year ago. It was truly amazing to see our planning come to life in the form of a successful event such as NISMUN IV.

On the whole, NISMUN IV was an incredibly positive environment for both beginner and experienced MUNers, and we hope to see many of these delegates back next year for NISMUN V!

MUN is one of the most sought-after extracurricular activities for students across the world. Through an academic simulation of the United Nations, participants deliberate and debate resolutions to current global and local issues, all while empathising with the situations and realities of other nations and their people. The MUN experience is an embodiment of NIS’s continuing commitment to inspire international mindedness, personal excellence, and creative thinking in our students.