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Sunday, April 26, 2015

Opening Ceremony


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



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