| Letter from the Secretary-General |
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Dear prospective delegates and faculty advisors, It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the website of the eighteenth annual Secondary Schools’ United Nations Symposium (SSUNS), to be held on November 11-14, 2010. Organized every November in Montréal, Québec, SSUNS has grown exponentially from being a small conference of a dozen students seventeen years ago to one of the premier model United Nations conferences in North America. Our theme this year, Defining Our New Decade, seeks to encourage students to evaluate the various facets of our global community that will likely experience unprecedented change in the coming years, and to consider the possible responses that we may provide to the future challenges the human race will face. From natural disasters to a growing shortage of resources to skyrocketing population growth which will make fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals ever more challenging, the global community will need to deal with a variety of issues that can be equally pertinent in debate at SSUNS. In that vein, SSUNS seeks to continue in its tradition of innovative and exciting committees, which range from simulations of the General Assembly bodies of the United Nations, such as Disarmament and International Security, to smaller regional crises that highlight the negotiations of current and historical national cabinets. The diversity of our nineteen simulations ensures that all delegates can participate in debate they find engaging and educationally stimulating. Furthermore, as a means of making education the cornerstone of the conference’s organization, our Isfeld Memorial Lecture Series brings guest speakers from a variety of fields into related committees to give students a real-life perspective on the issues under debate. Our Curriculum Component presentation then gives Faculty Advisors a forum to discuss and develop means to incorporate the lessons learned at SSUNS into the secondary school classroom.
In addition to the reputable SSUNS committee experience, delegates are offered a chance to experience some of Montréal’s finest attractions, including taking tours of McGill University and dining at some of the city’s finest culinary establishments in the picturesque Vieux-Port. The weekend will conclude with the delegate gala on Saturday night, an always popular and highly anticipated event.
These are just some of the many reasons we hope that SSUNS will be among your conference choices when planning your upcoming school year. Please browse through our website, and should you have further queries, please feel free to contact the organizing committee at any time.
We promise to make every effort to ensure the best conference experience possible and look forward to hosting you in November. Sincerely, |