Annual Report 2011-2012 - United Nations International School of ...

Student LeadershipAt UNIS Hanoi we believe that students are not only at schoolto learn – but also to teach and to lead.The five year strategic plan has three objectives under itssecond co-curricular goal, and one of them is dedicated todeveloping leaders.Objective 2.2 - Students demonstrate: a) responsibleleadership; b) respect for cultural and other differences; andc) the ability to collaborate and work as a team.Student voice is sought at UNIS Hanoi on a wide range ofissues and in the development of plans, but the goal is formuch more than student voice to be heard – we aim toempower students with leadership roles within the Schooland a host of opportunities have been developed to assistour students in achieving this goal.In addition to the Senate and Student Councils which involvestudents from Grade 3 upwards, our Student AmbassadorProgramme in Middle and High School and their ElementarySchool Peer Helper counterparts took on an increasinglyimportant role in 2011-12 from the Orientation of new studentsthrough to the end of the year.Students were also involved in the Board of Directors2011-12 Campus Visioning project (see p.20) and the Board ofDirectors was delighted to invite members from the StudentCouncils to join their May meeting and hear reports of theiryear-long activities.In 2011-12 for the first time, Forensics (public speaking anddebate) was offered in both Middle School and High School,with a goal to attend future Asia Pacific Activities Conferenceevents.In addition, participation continued with a delegationof six students from UNIS Hanoi at the EARCOS GlobalIssues Network (GIN) conference which took place at theInternational School Manila, in February with the theme of‘Compassionate Action’.GIN is a student-led organization that empowers youngpeople to collaborate locally, regionally and internationally inorder to create sustainable solutions for global issues.As a United Nations Interntaional School, a highlight of eachyear is our own Model United Nations’ conference as well asour students participation in THIMUN, Singapore (The HagueInternational MUN).Our own hosted conference was the largest yet with recordattendance from local Hanoi schools as well as those fromfurther afield. It was also one of the first main events to beheld in the new Centre for the Arts.This event was a training conference for the main event ofthe MUN year – THIMUN in Singapore – which this year wasattended by a delegation of 16 students representing twofull UN member countries for the first time. For some of thedelegation it was a first opportunity to see the workings ofthe Model United Nations at first hand and for one of ourstudents, Maxwell Ryder (Grade 12) the honour to chair oneof the General Assembly meetings.As the students themselves remarked, this was a greattestament to the way our students are developing as leadersof tomorrow.www.unishanoi.org 17