From January 19-21, Concordia hosted its ninth annual CISSMUN (Model United Nations) conference, which was held concurrently with the school’s first Global Issues Network conference, GINAsia 2018.
This monumental event saw over 1,300 students and teachers from international schools around the world converge on Shanghai for a weekend of debate, diplomacy, advocacy and activism, harnessing the power of a global youth network and raising awareness of the many challenges confronting our planet and its people.
"A Place to Stand" was the theme of the CISSMUN IX x GINAsia 2018 conference, and many of the committees, topics and keynote addresses focused on the role of young people as global changemakers.
"Being a changemaker requires effort and commitment," says Concordia high school teacher and GIN advisor LeeAnne Lavender, "but that is exactly what the world needs."
Keynote speakers at the GINMUN conference
The event brought an amazing lineup of keynote speakers, including
Kim Phuc, UNESCO Goodwill ambassador and author of Fire Road. Phuc is the "napalm girl" captured in Nick Ut's 1972 photo The Terror of War.
Ishmael Beah, member of the Human Rights Watch Children's Rights Division Advisory Committee and author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider and Radiance of Tomorrow: A Novel.
