Over the days of February 4-9, 22 individuals including Ms. Christine Wessler and Mr. Verne Becott travelled to the Windy City for the annual Model United Nations conference of the University of Chicago.

Before the conference, days were filled with late night Risk games, getting lost into the slums of Chicago, and engaging in conversations with interesting locals on the streets. The chaperones and students also explored Chicago, spending hours in the Chicago Art Institute, shopping on the Magnificent Mile, and attending a hilarious improv show at the renowned Second City Theatre. Unfortunately, some students were shocked by the low temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius during their time in the city, quickly catching a cold.

However, it was only a matter of time before the conference had commenced. By 7pm on Thursday night, the 20 St. George’s students changed into their Western business attires and got ready for the opening ceremonies. The University of Chicago offers a unique opportunity for St. George’s boys to research, debate and negotiate with other young people from a variety of different backgrounds. The conference focuses on education rather than competition by awarding book awards rather than gavels, and Outstanding Delegation rather than Best Delegation.

“It is an integral part of the School’s commitment to global-mindedness and becoming compassionate, engaged citizens of the world. This is an amazing, educational conference that we have attended for over twenty years now,” says Mr. Becott.

Under the leadership of Head Delegate Kelvin Zhu, St. George’s students walked away from the conference with a total of nine awards in a handful of diverse committees. Quinton Huang won the Outstanding Delegate award as the Australian Prime Minister in the British Imperial War Cabinet. Jay McCauley and Daniel Yan received verbal commendations in the Arab League and John Craig and Chris Jeon received the Honourable Delegation award on the Food and Agriculture Committee. Bill Lou and Leo Qiao also earned verbal recognition on the Committee on the Status of Women, as did Kenneth Huang and Brian Bacinschi on the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee.

So far this year, members of the Model United Nations program have attended the Regional High School Model UN in San Francisco with Dr. Hughes and Mr. Ziff, the Vancouver Model United Nations, and of course the Chicago Model United Nations. Ms. Coates and Ms. McLean are soon off to New York for the National High School MUN.

In the third term, the Model United Nations coordinator here at the school will have a meeting following a Friday assembly to discuss upcoming projects for the 2014-2015 school year. Mr. Becott predicts the school will definitely be returning to a conference on the East Coast such as NHSMUN or the National Invitational in Washington, but will also explore the possibility of visiting the Berlin MUN at the John F. Kennedy School in the German capital.