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SGIA Wins 6 Awards in the 17th Harvard Model Congress Asia
Sekolah Global Indo-Asia was honoured to participate in the 17th Harvard Model Congress Asia, the first ever remote conference of HMCA which was attended by twenty three schools from Asia. At the conference, all delegates debated, collaborated and formed resolutions to address the current global issues. Nineteen SGIA delegates were assigned to five committees: House Foreign Affairs (Domestic Committee), Asian Development Bank, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, European Union and World Health Organisation (International Committees). Delegates engaged in substantial discussions and debates about pertinent topics such as ensuring Press Freedom in Southeast Asia, resolving Rising Tensions in the Persian Gulf, Fighting Malaria, completing the Belt and Road Initiative and establishing European Union Public Health Policy. These relevant issues made the remote conference engaging and significant to all delegates.
Five SGIA students were awarded at the end of the conference. Aow Si Li, Sara (11A) from House Foreign Affairs and Lee Minwoo (11A) from World Health Organization were awarded as Best Delegates of their committees. Shafira Bianca Susilo (11A) from Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Angel Sarah Mathew (12A) from European Union were awarded Honourable Mentions. Furthermore, two resolutions from SGIA delegates were also recognized as Outstanding Resolution Writing: they are Arthur Farellio Her Pratama (11A) from Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Lee Minwoo from World Health Organization.
Additionally, three SGIA delegates were also recipients of scholarship from HMCA. They are Lee Minwoo, Keerthana Ajith (12A) and Hannah Eva Jacob (12A).
This is SGIA’s most successful HMCA conference so far and our awardees were very grateful for this experience. Here’s what they have to say about it:
HMCA 2021, despite being virtual, was an exhilarating and phenomenal experience that I will definitely treasure all my life. This year, I was part of a small domestic committee, House Foreign Affairs. I wanted to challenge myself but I didn’t know how US Congress worked. However, with much help from my fellow clubmates, our committee chairs, and days of extensive research, I was able to sufficiently understand committee proceedings and barely faced any difficulties. Joining HMCA was such a rewarding experience that the number of things I’ve learned from it becomes unfathomable at times. Had two of my classmates not invited me to join last year’s HMCA (the first I’ve attended), I doubt I would’ve dared to do public speaking.
I’d like to express enormous gratitude to our club advisor, who has guided us and given us her full support; the debate captains, who provided us with feedback on our speeches; the HMCA club members, who have been the sweetest pals and given me overwhelming peer support; the chairs in committee, who have explained Congress proceedings and ensured the committee was in order; the representatives (delegates) in committee, who I’ve met during the course of the three-day conference and worked with to draft bills and introduce them; and most importantly, my parents, for supporting me and allowing me to join HMCA in the first place.
– Aow Si Li, Sara (Grade 11)
Initially, I was reluctant to join HMCA 2021, as I thought it will be an additional burden that will add on to my ever-increasing IB workload. However, now that I completed this conference, I can confidently say that it was a worthwhile experience. I believe that the most enjoyable part of joining HMCA is making new friends and sharing our views towards a given topic. I was surprised at how delegates from different countries had different solutions/concerns about the same topic. The bill making was definitely the most fun and the most stressful part of HMCA 2021. All 16 of us in the World Health Organisation shared our ideas and wrote 5 detailed solutions that were designed to tackle the problems of malaria outbreaks and the violence against women. The preparation process in my school helped me learn the basics of HMCA and provided me with a solid basis to build my skill upon. Without the help of my clubmates and my fellow debate captains, I wouldn’t have been able to perform as I have in the conference.
HMCA has truly been a great learning experience. I learned about the importance of teamwork and respect. Discussing different solutions and forming an ultimate 13-page bill was very enjoyable as well. Through HMCA, I was able to learn collaboration, communication, and see different perspectives from a diverse group of delegates. I encourage all those who are reluctant to join to take the first brave step and experience it for themselves. – Lee Minwoo (Grade 11)
The three-day conference was indeed incredible! Despite attending it virtually, I was glad that the conference was able to bring in new perspectives in my life. But to me, the learning process was a whole other eye-opening experience. It taught me a lot of valuable life lessons, one of which is: your comfort zone won’t ever allow you to grow. All in all, I am honoured to be a part of the 2021 Harvard Model Congress Asia. It was a memorable experience that I will definitely look back on in the future! I am looking forward to seeing more people joining our MUN & HMCA Club. It may feel unfamiliar at first, but trust me, at the end of the day, we are all just delegates that once started from zero, too. We are here to make mistakes and learn from them together. – Shafira Bianca Susilo (Grade 11)
Attending Harvard Model Congress Asia virtually this year didn’t make it any less exciting! Representing as the delegate of Spain in the European Union committee, I got to discuss creating EU-wide Cybersecurity and Public Health policy with amazing delegates from all over the world who took their own passionate takes on debate, stances, and persuasion. Over the span of three days, we contemplated relevant issues to the world today, built numerous bills to resolve those problems together, and even had the opportunity to present our resolutions to the HMCA Presidential Cabinet. Aside from engaging in constructive debate and broadening my perspective with other points of view, my favourite parts of the experience were the hilarious impromptu crisis scenarios that required us to think on our feet!
Best of all, the HMCA staffers and community are all so supportive and welcome to anyone and everyone, from those with years of model congress experience in their pockets, to the first-timers looking to dip their toes in government simulation. These all contributed to an unforgettable experience, and I would recommend HMCA to anyone looking to gain more confidence in their public speaking skills, employ their creativity, research, and problem-solving in debate, and form amazing friendships along the way. - Angel Sarah Mathew, Grade 12
To be perfectly frank, I am not very fond of speaking in public. Nervousness hits me easily and itis not rare that I find myself stuttering when delivering a line in front of an audience. HMCA really taught me a valuable experience and it strongly built my confidence as HMCA trained me to speak in front of an audience that I am not familiar with. It taught me how to deal with current issues that are facing all of us today, and how to deliver our solutions to that problem, combining our country’s stance and our own personal stance. This is why when writing the C.L.E.A.R (Comprehensive Legislation Environmental Adaptive Reform) act, I highlyemphasized the importance of a network of monitoring stations able to measure the PM2.5 and P.M10 levels in ASEAN because the majority of countries of ASEAN, including the country I am representing, Brunei; does not yet possess the capability to accurately measure the pollutant levels inside of their respective countries, making it difficult to combat air pollution in ASEAN.
HMCA is an all-around fun and enjoyable experience. Delegates could learn valuable skills such as public speaking and defending their ideas using rational debate and factual information. I highly recommend it for students wishing to overcome their fear of public speaking, or just want to improve on their speaking skills overall.
– Arthur Farellio Her Pratama (Grade 11)