SENIOR SCHOOL
accumulated and compared at a team level.
At the time of the competition we were
confident of a good outcome as we had
been tirelessly practising to hone our skills.
This next stage was different as we had
to make two solutions to find an accurate
concentration of the unknown solution. This
next stage of the competition took place at
Murdoch University 27 August.
After calculating our results, we submitted
them as a group, and we were each advised
whether we had achieved a silver or gold
medallion. We were ecstatic to find out
that our team placed 5th out of the 15 that
competed. We achieved one silver and two
golds and as a team received “Excellence”
status for our brilliant results.
I recommend titrations to any chemistry
student as it allows you to get an edge in
the classroom experiments, teaching you
critical skills that become useful in the
course and for future science university
degrees.
Thomas Hodgins (12Ha)
Titrations Captain 2019
Modeling the
United Nations
Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to
educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy
and the United Nations agenda.
2019 marked the inaugural PSA Model UN event, run in partnership with the
University of Western Australia. In addition to being the first Model UN event within
the PSA competition, this event also marked the first Senior School competition in
which Guildford Grammar School was able to front with a co-educational team.
Each PSA school sent at least one team that consisted of three students, with each
team member having a specific role:
1. William van den Wall Bake (11He) – Researcher: responsible for finding
credible and current information on environmental refugees from the perspective
of our allocated country (United State of America).
2. Lachlan Minchin (11Sc) – Speaker: responsible for speaking at the Model UN
Assembly. Lachlan was required to write and present an opening statement and
present USA’s response to the proposed resolution.
3. Arabella Brosnan (11Sc) – Negotiator: armed with the facts obtained from the
researcher, good interpersonal skills and able to think on her feet, responsible for
trying to get other countries to support their resolution.
Before the General Assembly, our team filmed and submitted a video outlining how
the United States of America (designated country) views environmental refugees.
Teams from all schools submitted videos and these were shared amongst all teams to
allow all countries to understand the situation and issues in other countries.
Teams were issued with the resolution, which is a formal expression of the will of the
United Nations usually passed by the General Assembly or Security Council. Teams
then had the lead up to the General Assembly to prepare their position.
At the General Assembly meeting (day of the competition), Lachlan gave an
opening statement outlining USA’s proposed resolution regarding this issue.
Following the opening statements of all the countries, teams were given one hour
to negotiate with other countries or teams. Whilst William ensured our team was
well informed, Arabella articulately and cleverly negotiated with the 17 other
countries present. Following negotiation time, the UN General Assembly proposed
one resolution for voting.
Teams were judged by a panel of four experts and we are very pleased to report that
our team finished in 4th place out of 18 teams. Congratulations to William, Lachlan
and Arabella on their excellent presentation, negotiation skills and participation.
Arabella Brosnan (11Sc)
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