Closing Ceremony

Closing+Ceremony

Closing Ceremony

Shashank K, SISMUN Press team writer

As SISMUN came to an end, the delegates made their way to the ABF theatre for a series of speeches and presentations.

The closing ceremony began with a descriptive speech by Katrina about SISMUN-MINI, about how MUN is made to be fun and easy, the same engagement while being easier to perform.

Award winning journalist, Zoran Stevanovic, from the UNHCR was our guest this year. He made a  passionate and informative speech about the European refugee crises. He put the crisis in perspective for us, by telling us personal stories of the refugees. He also discussed the ethical implications of refugees and migrants, and how Europe has, and how Europe should be responding.  Afterwards some intriguing questions were posed by the students leading to an interesting discussion.  I don’t think there could have been anyone in the audience who wasn’t moved by his description of the situation.  He pointed out the importance of understanding that refugees are just normal people just like us but that they have been forced to flee their countries.  He himself has been a refugee having fled from Bosnia.  We are sure that many must be motivated to see what they can do to make life better for refugees.  He implored us to do what we could to influence opinion and put pressure on politicians.  This is definitely something for a CAS project or service as action.

After his speech, a slideshow of pictures taken during the conference was presented, showing the fun and productive moments of SISMUN.

An SISMUN tradition was continued this year, as Ambassadors from countries gave speeches on the topics and what they wanted to achieve as Model UN representatives. This allowed for a greater understanding of each countries stance on the diverse and controversial topics.

The award ceremony, was the chance for outstanding delegates to be given recognition.

Finally, the Secretary General, Kresimir,  gave a warm sending off to this year’s SISMUN. Expressing his thoughts on how well this year’s SISMUN went, as well as thanking everyone who made MUN possible through their efforts. He expressed his gratitude to  teachers, the SIS Staff, the delegates, and to the press team as well as giving Ms Schmidt flowers for her hard work and for being the driving force behind SISMUN.

I think that we can all agree that this was a successful SISMUN and hope that it is even bigger next year. Even though this was the official closing, SISMUN will continue tomorrow with more debates and resolutions by visiting schools and the members of the SIS MUN group.