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Model United Nations Conference
On the 8th December Newton College hosted the second Model United Nations Conference of the year. Delegates from Markham, San Silvestre and Newton each took roles as foreign diplomats representing a country and debated the current issue of the “Nuclear Crisis in Iran” as the topic on the agenda in a simulation of the UN General Assembly.

The Newton delegation is gaining higher recognition as seen by awards obtained by members of Upper School: Giulia Ciliotta and Macarena Arias from Form IV were awarded the “Best Delegation” diploma, while Stephanie Horna from Form VI was given the “Best Diplomat” and “Best use of procedural rules” award.

In the last conference hosted by San Silvestre School, Carlos Varela and Stephanie Horna from Form VI were given awards for “Outstanding Delegation” and “Best Individual Participation” in “War-Stricken Darfur” conference.

Debates
In the British Schools of Peru (BSP) debates students from Form II to Form V met with students from the other British schools and in mixed teams debated such topics as ‘Pop stars and politics don’t mix’, ‘Education begins after school’ and ‘Blood sports should be banned’. An audience of students asked challenging questions and voted for the most convincing arguments.

In the Peruvian Debating Association (PDA), our advanced, intermediate and beginner teams met regularly during the year and were coached for the monthly inter-school debates on such motions as ‘Money makes the world go round’, ‘Guns trigger violence’ and ‘Homework is a waste of time’. The beginners’, coached by Mr. Goodman, have shown a lot of enthusiasm and have improved greatly since the start of the year. The advanced and intermediate teams were lucky enough to be coached by ex student and world debater Lorena Alarco before she went to England to study.

In April 2008, Lima will be hosting the Pan American Debating Championship and teams from the USA, Canada, Bermuda and possibly Argentina will be sending their teams to what promises to be a very exciting event. Newton’s advanced team will be working hard all summer to improve their skills and general knowledge ready for the try-outs in February and hopefully, some of them will be selected to form part of the Peruvian team. We wish them luck.

We are sorry to lose two of our most active members of the Debate Club, Liliana Seminario and Alonso Otárola who, in 2008, will be going to university, where they intend to start their own Debate Club. No doubt they will be very successful.

Maria Petrozzi
Debate Coordinator

 

Form I Trip to Tambopata
“Thanks for guiding us through places we had never dreamed of. I loved Tambopata and the birds. It was perfect.” This comment was typical of the cheerful enthusiasm of the 57 Form I students and 4 teachers that travelled with me to Newton’s Sachavacayoc Centre in the Tambopata National Reserve in November.

Over a period of 4 days, each student travelled over 100 km on the Tambopata River, hiked more than 20 km through steaming jungle, touched caimans and tree boas (if they wanted to), saw monkeys and macaws, and learned about the ecology and conservation of the rainforest. They experienced tropical rainstorms, complete with thunder and lightning, and slept under mosquito nets on a wooden platform deep within the National Reserve.

They learnt about different ecosystems, river dynamics, medicinal plants, colonization and the sustainable future of tropical rainforests. They returned to Lima as experienced jungle travellers and hopefully, with a keener interest in the wonders of one of Peru’s most precious natural resources.

David Bruggers, Trip Coordinator

 

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