Georgetown Students Learn the Art of Global Diplomacy at Model United Nations in Sofia

A group of students from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) have returned to Doha after contributing to the Model United Nations (MUN) conferences movement with the latest participation in the SOFIMUN in Sofia, Bulgaria from July 21-28.

A total of 9 of SFS-Q’s most competitive students joined their peers from universities around the world in the conference, which featured a grueling week-long itinerary of stimulating dialogue on international affairs. Two of SFS-Q students, Mohamed Khalil Harb and Katja Novakovic, also received best delegate awards.

“It was a tremendous learning opportunity for our students to engage in a range of community sessions and cultural activities all designed to increase the understanding of global issues of significance,” said Sara Berhie, Student Development Officer, SFS-Q who led the delegation.

Sessions over the length of seven days included opening and closing ceremonies, a host of plenary sessions, committee discussions as well as tours to the National Palace of Culture, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Narodno Sabrine Square. The students from SFS-Q represented a gamut of entities from the ‘UN Security Council’ and ‘Human Right Council’ to the ‘Council of Ministers of the European Union’ and the press.

SFSQ students have participated in MUN conferences around the world over recent years, including conferences in Oxford in 2007, Vienna in 2009, and The Hague in 2010.

Georgetown’s own annual MUN (GMUN) has become one of the region’s largest student based-conferences and serves as an academic platform for young people to discover and develop their potential in making a positive impact on society.

“GMUN thrives as a result of our students bringing a truly international perspective to high school students from around the world. The participants of SOFIMUN will be able to contribute to the local training day that we host in the run up to our own MUN as well as supervise multiple simultaneous committee sessions,” said Berhie.

The seventh GMUN held from February 1-4, 2012 saw participation of students from 69 schools from 38 countries. The theme of last year’s event was “The Arab Awakening”.

“A great part about of GMUN conference is that a good number of students who attend eventually enroll at Georgetown and are able to train other students to become future world leaders,” said Berhie.

The next edition of GMUN is currently scheduled to be held from February 21 to 24, 2013.