Model United Nations in New York City

On Tuesday 14th March, 2023, some of our Year 12 and Year 13 students took a trip to the United States, in order to take part in the prestigious Model United Nations General Assembly in New York City. For five days, students had to take on the role of diplomats representing our assigned country, Pakistan, in debates on a wide variety of topics - everything from child labour in tourism to the environmental impact of UN peacekeeping missions. 

The work the students undertake on the trip, begins at school, with a wide range of research and preparation required of the delegates attending. Our students took this aspect of the trip incredibly seriously. Their hard work paid off; at the closing ceremony Ruislip High School was awarded a Merit Award for Research and Preparation. This is the first year the school has won an award at MUNGA and the joy was clear to see in Ms Horton’s reaction. Alisha, Year 12, told us: “They actually mispronounced the school name at first, so none of us realised we had won. But then we saw Ms Horton jumping up and down and cheering - we soon realised it was our school name that had been read out. It was the best moment, we were all so excited!”

Beyond taking part in the Model United Nations, the students had plenty of time to go sightseeing too. Memorable trips included a sightseeing bus tour through the whole of downtown Manhattan, a trip to the headquarters of the United Nations, walking through Central Park and Times Square and viewing the iconic New York skyline from the top of the Rockefeller Center. Perhaps most poignantly though, we also took the chance to visit the site of the 9/11 Memorial and museum. 

All of the students thoroughly enjoyed their time in the city that never sleeps. Rohan, Year 12, said “I loved the opportunity to make friends with other students from across the world, and debate real topics that the UN deals with on a regular basis. It was also a great chance to talk to students from Year 13 - now we’ve come back, it has made us stronger as a sixth form community.”

Thank you very much to Mr Amos and Ms Horton for enabling this exciting trip to take place. The experience has given our students lifelong memories and an achievement of which they can all be proud. Regardless of which student we spoke to who attended the trip, they all shared the same piece of feedback: “It was the best week of my life!”