JASMUN was a Model United Nations held by a school in Warsaw. Thirteen KCS students went, accompanied by Ms Hedderman and Mr O’Shea, two of our TY year heads.  

It started on the 14th of September, when we had a general assembly and our first committee sessions. On the first morning, we were introduced to the workings of the conference, and then the members of the Security Council, including three of our TY students, read out their proposition papers.  

Over the next two days, we debated and discussed our topics in our individual committees, gradually working toward our resolution papers. Each committee worked together, using the conference’s theme of “Building a culture of peace through effective diplomacy and communication” to find a suitable resolution for all delegates and each of their individual goals.  

For our final sessions, the entire conference gathered for a crisis committee, with the topic of a (fictional) earthquake and subsequent civil unrest in Afghanistan, and then ended with a rewards ceremony.  

As well as the conference, we went sightseeing around the beautiful city of Warsaw, visited the school, 2Slo, who were running JASMUN, and attended a social with other conference members on the second night.   Looking back, this trip was a brilliant learning experience for everyone there, from teachers, first time MUN goers, and students returning to them. We got the opportunity not only to practice our debating, research and public speaking skills, but also the chance to meet people from different cultures to us and make new friends.  

Not only was it fun, but two of our students, Martin Hickey (TY) and Róise O’Donovan (5th year) won Best Delegate and an award of excellence in their committees respectively.    All around, JASMUN was a great way to start off the year, as well as most students’ MUN careers, and I would wholly recommend MUN to any students interested in politics, international affairs, public speaking/debating, and understanding other cultures.  

 KCS delegation: 

Security Council: Cait O’Higgins, Farrah Keenaghan and Kayleigh Lynch 

UN Women: Rebecca Deasy, Nina Maria Wirsam and Fia Callanan 

DISEC: Martin Hickey, Alanna O’Shea and Tara Ellis 

HRC: Róise O’Donovan and Janelle Agyemankusi 

Historical Committee: Eoin Dillon