Puna Wānanga

Project Name: Model United Nations

Puna Wānanga Area/Class: NATION

What your project is about:

In NATIONS we basically work towards our Model United Nations. We are assigned different countries and are the allocated delegates representing these countries in the model. We are also expected to represent their viewpoints, for example Global Health. We collaborate with other delegates from other countries and come up with solutions to certain scenarios that we are given. 

Future plans:

In the future, we hope to grow the presence of the NATIONS Puna group and take on more opportunities. We are going to continue hosting international students, and hope to run the Inter-school MUN again next year! 

What has been the highlight of your learning in Puna Wānanga so far?

My highlight of NATIONS so far, was being involved in the inter-school Model United Nations last week. This was the biggest event that we have had this year, it required significant planning. On the Wednesdays in the build up we would get together to do specific jobs, such as making reels for social media to advertise, communicating with other schools to get them involved (visiting Hamilton Boys High) and even staying behind after school to prepare for this awesome event. Other members of our group sought funding from the Waikato Regional Council to support this event. The effort that we put into this event really brought our group together, it was such a benefit to meet so many other students from across the Waikato.

It was a great success because we had over 80 attendees from a range of different schools across the Waikato. This is the first MUN in the Waikato region since 2019. There were a lot of beginners that attended this event for the first time, so it was a great chance for us to utilise our leadership skills and model the MUN process to them. 

THREE skills you have developed through being involved in your project:

Auahatanga/Creativity

The scenarios we are given during our UN sessions require a lot of creativity in terms of solving the problems and finding solutions to those problems. I would say it requires a lot of innovation and originality to participate in the MUN sessions.

Mahi Ngaatahi/Collaboration

Collaboration between other delegates from other countries is one of the biggest things involved in our sessions. It is the entire intention of the MUN sessions. Working together with other countries and teaming up against major problems and convincing other countries to join you, requires a lot of collaboration.

Whakahaere Kaupapa/Project Management

The inter-school MUN for example required a lot of planning and management, which made us take on different tasks and allocate different jobs to people so we could overcome issues and produce good results.

How can the reader help/support us:

Readers can follow our Instagram to keep up with everything we are doing, from events to updates: @rshs_mun 

If you would like to sponsor us, to support us to continue running these educational events, please get in touch with bennypan@rhs.school.nz or check us out at the Expo!

Alternatively you could participate in our future events and get involved!