ES
Santiago Janeiro, IB Diploma programme student at SEK-Atlántico, has participated, on a grant from the collaborating organisations, in the United Nations HMUN model, organised by Harvard University.
On his return he shared his experience with the SEK community:
“On 18 January, 2018, I left for Boston with thirteen Spanish teenagers from years one and two of Baccalaureate, a grant from the Common Action Forum and the Association for the United Nations and International Law, to participate in the Harvard University United Nations model.
Going back to the beginning of this experience, during the month of November, I participated in the Spain Youth Model United Nations (SYMUN), organised by these two organisations together with the Carlos III University of Madrid. Fourteen scholarships were given for students to attend the Harvard University United Nations model (HMUN) during the month of January. To take part in this opportunity and be selected among SYMUN participants I had to send my curriculum, as well as a cover letter, my grades and a document analysing the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, possible solutions to tackle this problem and, finally, and perhaps more importantly, successful participation in this model.
Shortly after I was notified that I had been selected and would be going on to what could possibly be one of the best experiences of my life. This scholarship included training sessions by the coordinators on public speaking, improvisation, negotiation, group management and leadership among other topics.
We arrived in Boston on 19 January and spent the next six days studying and preparing the conference in the library of the Harvard Law Faculty in the mornings and having training sessions in the afternoons. HMUN begun on the seventh day, an event with over 4,000 participants, including 3,300 delegates.
In our case, as the team representing SYMUN, we all had to represent the same country, but each one of us in a different United Nations committee, except those that went in pairs. We represented the Dominican Republic, and in my case, the committee of the Organization of American States, where we discussed the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
I spent the next three days working on the five sub-topics that the chairs of our committee had set us, drafting a fair treaty, inflation, customs duties, human rights, workers’ rights and tourism, the latter being the one that most affected the country I represented and, therefore, the one I paid closest attention to.
On the final day we succeeded in pushing through the agreement on my committee and I returned home together with my Spanish colleagues, from whom I have learned a great deal, particularly Fabio Pradera and Sofía Gohlke, our faculty advisers that in addition to being great professionals were also great people.
Without a doubt, it has been an experience that I have gained a great deal from, I have gained knowledge about the subject I tackled, about how to treat people and how to manage groups, I take away the experience of having tried a very different Model United Nations (MUN), but above all and most importantly, I have made friends and I have learnt from each and every one of the people that I travelled to Boston with.
I can only thank CAF and Anudi for the opportunity and the incredible people with whom I have shared this experience. “
