Student Model United Nations event debates gender issues

Globally-minded secondary school students will participate in the annual Quinte and District Model United Nations event this week. The topic for this year’s simulated United Nations Summit – Gender Issues – will focus on both the nature and intensity of gender issues linked to prejudice, intolerance, cultural traditions and ignorance. Students will also investigate, that, just as racial prejudice leads to discrimination and violence, gender prejudice and discrimination can also lead to violence and even death.
The event is set for Thursday, Oct. 27 and Friday, Oct. 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Moira Secondary School,  275 Farley Avenue, Belleville.
In the weeks leading up to the summit, students choose a country to represent and act as that country’s delegate. They work together, and with the support of teachers, to do research, collect data, analyze causes, and become intimately familiar with their assigned country’s cultural, economic, and political attitudes toward peace.

At the summit, students spend the first day sharing their research. Once all delegates have addressed the assembly, the challenging role-playing begins. Utilizing all their collaborative, persuasive and critical thinking skills, delegates negotiate alliances, develop resolutions, and create solutions to encourage peace throughout the world. Day 2 is spent polishing, presenting, and debating the resolutions.

At the end of the two days, participants will come away with a broader understanding of the complexities of gender issues. Another learning outcome is the critical understanding that solutions, though seldom simple or unilateral, are achievable and worth working toward.

Students from all eight secondary schools in Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board are participating, along with others from the region. They will represent 27 countries.

Participating HPEDSB secondary schools: Bayside, Centennial, Centre Hastings, Moira, North Hastings, Prince Edward Collegiate Institute, Quinte and Trenton High School.