Leadership News


New Zealand Model United Nations: Wellington (Kay Hooper 12HMI)

After months of preparation, planning, fundraising, the help of Mr Jones, and a generous donation from alumnus Craig Walker, six Massey High School students and two teachers (Mr McSweeny and Ms Begovic) travelled to Wellington to attend the New Zealand Model United Nations conference. 

At the four-day conference, we represented the nations of Brazil, The United States, Canada, Slovenia, Jamaica, and Croatia- Kayleigh Hooper, Ava Garratt, Ada Kim, Harriet Barter, Gab Aninion, and Lachlan Doyle respectively. 

The delegates of Brazil, The United States, and Canada each had the opportunity to meet the Ambassadors of their respective countries- the delegate of Canada received a gift of Canadian maple syrup, and the delegate of the United States received a country friendship pin. We were also treated to a private tour of parliament by Joanne Irain, on behalf of local MP Chris Penk. 

We attended the NZMUN Gala, at which we all had a fantastic time. During the conference itself we debated on topics such as criminal justice, antimicrobial resistance, and labour rights, and witnessed scandals such as the delegate of Saudi Arabia advocating for the legalisation of the death penalty, the delegate of Malaysia making some bold and controversial statements about women’s role in the workforce during a plenary session, the delegate of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea trying to turn the assembled member states into frogs and claiming “... we do pay our workers a living wage... they are alive. They're living and they have a wage”, and the delegate of Greece saying that Taylor Swift made bad music. 

After a week of debating and making friends, we flew back up to Auckland to relax and finish assessments for the rest of the holidays.

Photo: Harriet Barter, Ava Garratt, Ada Kim, Kay Hooper, Gab Aninion, Lachlan Doyle1691220706055

Two of our Year 9 Leadership students share their experience attending the GRIP Leadership Conference...

“Earlier this month, 9LEA attended the GRIP Leadership Conference, which is a day where schools across Auckland come together to improve our leadership skills and strategies. During this conference we got the opportunity to meet other schools, share our opinions and have an overall fun day. During this conference we also had the choice to attend two out of four different seminars. Personally, I chose how to get others involved in big events and how to replace conflict with peace. These were super fun, we learnt lots of different strategies through lots of fun games. At the end of the day, we got to sit down and ask any questions we had about leadership. Overall, I found this day verry beneficial and exciting. I would totally do it all over again.” – Cushla Whyte

“The GRIP Leadership conference was a fun interactive day, with hands on and helpful activities with a chance to meet other growing leaders and we were given the opportunity to develop the skill set required to become a successful leader. Andy and his team taught us many innovative ideas that we can put into practice. We had many workshops including eight loud noise activities which were fun to take part in, which got everyone involved. Each seminar/workshop we had was fun, as we listened and participated in discussions. Altogether we had four seminars, and we got to choose between two of them. I chose how to get people involved in big ideas. I learnt many things and I absolutely would go again.” – Devon Matich

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