The Richmond Forum partners with Governor’s School Model United Nations to bring prominent speakers to local students.
On the weekend of March 24-25, both the Richmond Forum and the 20th Annual Governor’s School Model United Nations Conference (GSMUN XX) will bring the region together to learn about our world.
The Honorable Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel, and Dr. Mohamed Elbaradei, Director General Emeritus of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will be at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School on Saturday, March 25th to speak with middle and high school students from the Richmond Region. The two will discuss Middle Eastern peace prospects, following the theme “Peace in the Middle East: Prospects and Roadblocks.” In past years, GSMUN has been lucky enough to have many prestigious speakers, including Ben Bernanke, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia.
GSMUN brings students together from surrounding counties and cities to debate important international issues and to develop diplomacy in the next generation of world leaders. In March 2016, over 500 delegates from schools in central Virginia and surrounding areas discussed, debated, and found solutions for some of the greatest challenges facing our world today. The student-led Secretariat of GSMUN XX looks to expand the impact of the Governor’s School Model United Nations Conference in 2017.
The delegates, who come from local middle and secondary schools, will discuss issues over the weekend in committees led by Governor’s School students, which include a groundbreaking International Olympic Committee, as well as a simulation of the Parliament of Yugoslavia and a group of four interdependent crisis committees modeling the Second Congo War.
In addition to debating global issues, the conference seeks to make a difference in the community by fundraising for a chosen charity that addresses an important global issue throughout the year. In previous years, the conference has supported charities such as Free the Children and the Afghan Institute of Learning, and last year, raised $10,000 for One Hundred Pounds of Hope, an organization based in Richmond that provides emergency relief to the people of Cambodia. This year, GSMUN XX will be fundraising for Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere), an international charity that provides disaster relief and medical training to many areas around the world. We fundraise through a variety of venues, such as school bake sales, a benefit concert, and conference donations and merchandise sales during the weekend of GSMUN.
