Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 30

NEWS
LEFT TO RIGHT:
NOAH MCCAIG,
CONNOR
FERGUSON, THOMAS
DEVONSHIRE,
IAN MACGIBBON-
PARKER, CHARLES
BUCKLEY, HAMISH
DEVONSHIRE.
MODEL ASEAN CONFERENCE
– NEW PERSPECTIVES ON
THE WORLD
In Term 4 2019, Ms Anna Tally briefed the
Year 9 Indonesian cohort on an opportunity
to participate in a Model ASEAN Conference
at the Sydney Opera House, late in
November. The conference was to be held
with 11 schools from around Australia, to
discuss and learn about ‘digital connectivity’
within the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, or ASEAN.
Six boys in the class took up the
challenge to construct an original, short
video exploring the meaning of digital
connectivity. After a few lessons creating
the product, they shared it with the Asia
Education Foundation. A few weeks later, the
team received the exciting news that it had
been selected to attend the event, along with
two other Victorian schools.
The six boys in the team (Hamish
Devonshire, Thomas Devonshire, Charles
Buckley, Ian Macgibbon-Parker, Noah
McCaig and Connor Ferguson) were
accompanied by two staff members, Ms
Tally and Ms Michele Linossier. As is the way
with Model ASEANs, each of the groups
was assigned a country to represent in the
model ASEAN; ours was the Republic of
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Great Scot Issue 159 – May 2020
the Philippines. The conference included
three committees that would discuss the
intricacies of digital connectivity, and how
they could be used to benefit the states
within ASEAN.
The model ASEAN began with position
statements from two ‘delegates’ of each
individual state on the highlighted theme
of digital connectivity. After the speeches,
the representatives were tasked with
spontaneously answering questions
provided by other delegates. Following
the introduction to the conference, the
representatives split off into the various
committees to discuss the issues and
problems with digital connectivity. These
committees included discussions of
innovation and infrastructure as ideas to
improve the quality and efficiency of digital
connectivity in ASEAN.
During these conversations the
representatives spoke to students from
another nation via a Facetime call. These
students were from one of three nations in
ASEAN for each group, including Singapore,
Thailand and Indonesia. The end results of
these committees was to form a resolution
to be presented to the whole assembly,
regarding the overall idea of each committee.
Afterwards, all committees came
together again to discuss the resolutions
and even put forward amendments to
clauses. Once it was felt enough editing was
completed to the resolutions, each school
voted on each clause and whether they
believed it should be accepted or denied.
These decisions were based on the policies
of the states they were representing. Each of
the states came to a finalised resolution, and
the states then voted, based on the opinions
of the governments of the states.
By the conclusion of the Model ASEAN
conference, each student took away a
new idea into this new age that we live in,
whether it was the manner with which we
use modern technology or the way that we
strive for new ways to communicate with one
another. The Model ASEAN was an eye-
opening experience for each of the students,
and provided a new perspective on the
world through the eyes of the international
schools’ participation.
HAMISH and THOMAS DEVONSHIRE –
YEAR 10