The opening ceremony of the 3rd
Annual Saints MUN Conference 2015 held at SAJC’s Lecture Theater 2 kicked off 2
days-round of discussion, negotiation and debate in the 4 councils.
Our Guest of Honour Mrs Lucy Toh, Principal of
St.Andrew’s Secondary School made an opening address on the motto of Saints MUN
2015, Scientia potentia est or Knowledge is Power, highlighting the
significance of appreciating knowledge for itself and seeing it applied in many
co-curricular areas and in the context of many global affairs and problems.
Taking anecdotes from her own life as a junior
college and university student, she emphasised the impacts “knowledge
acquisition” has on a student’s post-university and career life and global
stewardship. Quoting from Ecclesiastes 12:12, “Of making many books there is no
end”, Mrs Toh mentioned that “Knowledge can become indulgence” and “it does not
necessarily mean action”. She drew attention to many current world problems
that are not tackled with concrete actions and the importance of having
self-confidence and self-efficacy or the “ability to do things”. The varying
interests and circumstances across countries and societies result in much
differences to be resolved in MUNs and this can only be done so by having
extensive knowledge about the country that a MUN delegate is representing such
as about, “the countries’ traditions, origins and culture”. Stating that
knowledge of the world at large is extremely crucial to the young people today,
Mrs Toh elaborated on the many ways the youth today engage with the world and
noted that it is not “all intellectual pursuits” and it is important to be
empathetic as well. Touching on the subject of university education, Mrs Toh
mentioned that choices of university courses and careers are dependent on our
knowledge acquisition as it shapes our interests and eventually enables
students to make informed choices for the university course and career field.
As MUNS deal with broad topics, formation of resolutions require deep analysis
and this is a “thought provoking process” that enables students to develop
specific knowledge that allows them to narrow down their career and university
education to specific areas hence it is necessary to “go deep”.
Following Mrs Toh’s address, Miss Nicole Ng, the
Secretary General of Saints MUN 2015, in her speech, expressed her delight in
the number of delegates entering MUN circuit for the first time, saying how she
and the Chairs of the respective councils are heartened by the quality of
position papers sent by the delegates and hope that the delegates will
participate actively in council sessions. She brought up the many aspects of
MUN conferences such as teamwork among delegates saying that, “enthusiasm and
the need to come up with concrete solutions”. Ending of on a enthusiastic note,
it was apparent to everyone that she had been waiting excitedly for Saints MUN
2015!
The opening ceremony concluded with the
introduction of the chairs of the various chairs and videos that accurately
summed up the issue to be discussed in the councils.
With heads buzzing and alive conversations the
delegates convened for dinner. Saints MUN 2015 had begun!
By Abinaya.M
No comments:
Post a Comment