The Conference

From October 27th-29th, the 12th annual iteration of Vancouver Youth Model United Nations (VYMUN) took place. Hosted at the Fairmont Hotels in Whistler, over 650 students from grades 7-11 embarked on the journey up North to participate in one of the premier development Model United Conferences in British Columbia. The goal of VYMUN was to provide delegates an opportunity to engage in the world affairs, improve public speaking and critical thinking skills, as well as, promote diplomacy through the discussion of pertinent global issues. The theme for this year’s conference was the rise of populism.

Committees

VYMUN 2017 included 11 committees that covered a variety of topics ranging from to the House of Commons discussion of Electoral Reform to a Historical Crisis Committee (HCC) that almost altered the 1917 Russian Revolution. These 11 committees were categorized into 3 sections: General Assemblies (ie. COPOUS, SOCHUM), Specialized Committees (ie. Arab League, EU), and Crisis Committees (ie. UNSC, HCC). Each group of committees had a different style and pace of debate and provided different degrees of difficulty.

Delegates were given 5 committee session – each around 3 hours long – to discuss, debate, and create resolve on the 2 assigned topics and a crisis. Advanced committees like the NSC even received a “midnight crisis” where delegates were forced to wake-up at 5 am to effectively address an emergency, time-sensitive issue. Beginner and specialized committees played a version of fruits and vegetables, a game with the objective of creating the best possible salad as a way to familiarize the complicated rules of procedures to delegates.  

Delegate Experience

This year, St. Georges sent students from grades 7-9 to participate the VYMUN 2017. Jason Guo, a grade 9 student who attended his first VYMUN this year, remarks, “My delegate experience was perfect since I had a lot of new experiences and my chairs were also very friendly and helpful. My favorite part of the conference was the friendly staffs as they were always willing to help me improve.” When asked about whether he’d return next year, he responded: “Although I won’t actually be able to go to VYMUN next year since I’ll be in grade 10, I would definitely go again if given the opportunity to try something new.“ With that said, Jason also stated he was very dissatisfied with “The schedule of the midnight crisis and waking up at 5 am.”