We sometimes say that our classrooms are like a mini-United Nations, and in December we proved that it’s true! On December 4 and 5, eleven students from Grades 8 and 9 travelled to Maple Leaf International School – Dalian to participate in a Model United Nations conference with high school students.  Model United Nations is an academic activity, where students discuss important issues that affect every nation in our world.

Our students represented the perspectives of different countries in the World Health Organization and the General Assembly to reach agreements on different world issues, such as dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, helping refugees fleeing from conflict zones and black market drugs and medication.

This was the first conference for all of our students, and they did an amazing job! Our students had prepared for several weeks in our Language Arts classes, and very quickly realized they had the confidence to stand up and share their opinions with the room.

This kind of activity has students using many of our Core Competencies, such as critical thinking and communication, while they try to find solutions to these issues. As students talk about these problems and learn more about current events, they also become more informed citizens.

Grade 8 student Zuri Qu was recognized with an individual Outstanding Delegate award for her hard work and contributions. Her chair noted that she volunteered to be the main speaker for her group’s resolution, despite it being her very first conference. We congratulate her for this wonderful achievement!

In all, the following students participated and were amazing ambassadors for Maple Leaf F.N.S. Dalian :
• Jayden Kim
• Gracie Chen
• Viva Mlokoti
• Shoan Cooper
• Zuri Qu
• Isaac Lee
• Samhita Bhuvanagiri
• Yiming Feng
• Zixin Lin
• Shera Sun
• Alice Zhang

FNS plans to attend additional conferences in the spring of 2021