A group of grade 5 to 7 students from Boundary Bay Montessori School travelled to New York City over Spring Break to participate in the Montessori Model United Nations program.
This is a full year program in which students go through the process of learning to become a UN delegate.
Ajeet Singh Bains, Isabel Baldwin, Amelia Bartakovic, Kairi Chui, Ekaager Singh Khalsa, Gray McCauley and Dexter Paziuk all successfully completed this program. Acting as delegates to Cuba, Morocco, Slovenia and Vietnam, they worked collaboratively with students from all over the world to write resolutions on the topics of The Convention on Biological Diversity and Sustainable Development and the Special Case of Landlocked Developing Countries both topics on the UN committee, ECOFIN.
To prepare, the students researched their chosen country, discovering and documenting its history, geography, economy, environment, political structure and social systems. They identified the main issue being addressed and outlined their country’s government position and perspective. They researched speeches and other documents outlining statements from country officials both at the UN and in other international arenas. They used all of the knowledge they had gained through research and discussion to develop at least two international solutions to address their topic issue.
This research culminated in position papers submitted to the MMUN officials. At the end of the curriculum, students attended the MMUN Conference in New York.
Acting as their country’s delegates, the students delivered passionate and engaging speeches in their UN committee sessions.
This intense program provided students with the opportunity to discover that they can be active in solving real-world problems. The Bureau selected several students to present their resolutions during the closing ceremony at the UN General Assembly, three of which were students from Boundary Bay Montessori School. This accomplishment speaks to our students’ incredible ability to engage, interact and problem solve with peers from all over the world. Boundary Bay Montessori School intends to deliver this program as part of their curriculum every two years.
