Closing Address by Secretary-General, Harvard Team (Transcript)

Views Share in Google Buzz Tuesday, March 30, 2010


Closing Address-2
by Ami Nash, Secretary-General, Harvard Team
Date: March 18th, 2010
Length:482words, 3 minutes

Thanks very much Bianca.

Delegates, Faculty Advisers, Sponsors and Supporters of WorldMUN, and distinguished guests, it's hard to imagine that we're here today to celebrate the end of World Model United Nations 2010. I'd planned to tell you that this week had left me speechless, and in nearly losing my voice with the incredible chance to talk to so many of you this week...that's sounding a little too close to the truth!

At the beginning of this week, I challenged you to start conversations, change your mind, and to work towards solutions. In the past few days I've seen hundreds of you taking me up on these challenges, and in turn really broadening my and your fellow delegates' perspectives. It's been tremendously gratifying and edifying to talk to you about what has really got you going this week – whether it was gathering the courage as a first-time Model UN delegate to speak for the first time in committee; heatedly working towards compromise on a resolution in the hallways of TICC; or organizing extra dinners for your committee to continue to talk outside of session.
The conversations you started this week don't stop here. Can you imagine if Barak Obama, Kim Jong Il, Vladimir Putin, Lula Da Silva had spent a week sharing ideas, debating, and partying together when they were in their early twenties? In a few decades (or even sooner!) you'll be the leaders of the nations, corporations, and organizations that will move and shake the world...and at you'll still have the experience of this past week with you then.

In the shorter term, next year is going be the 20th year anniversary of World Model United Nations and we can't wait to welcome you back. In the meantime, we're excited to help you keep the friendships you've made here alive through our facebook groups, and new photo sharing website.

Finally, as we celebrate this incredible week, I wanted to take this chance to recognize the group of people who have made this convention happen. While we've been pulling long hours in debate and on the dance floor during the past week, a team of 200 plus members of the NTU host team have been hard at work for nearly the past year to make this conference happen. For the volunteers who guided us home each night, the pages who delivered us notes in committee, the assistant chairs who helped committee to run so smoothly, the directors and deputy directors who with their innovations and dedication set the bar for WorldMUN at an entirely new high, and the countless others who made this week happen – let's give a huge and well-deserved round of applause.

For their tremendous now to present to Jason and the rest of the host team this plaque– representing the gratitude of the entire WorldMUN community for the NTU host team's tremendous work hosting WorldMUN this past year.