THIMUN Affiliation Article by Ellen Goodson
The 7th annual Anatolia College Model United Nations: a three-day conference of strategic diplomacy; scintillating and informed debate; international cooperation and cross-cultural teamwork. This year, the event attracted almost 500 students and advisors from schools as near as Pylaia and as far as Germany and the USA. What with the bustle of individuals rushing in and out of committee rooms, high heels clicking in the halls, and voices murmuring over the latest motions or developing news stories, one might be forgiven for not remembering a tall woman who floated quietly amid the proceedings. Luckily for Anatolia College, however, she remembered us.
This year, a representative from the widely respected Hague Model UN (THIMUN) visited our conference, observed its participants in action, and spent time speaking with ACMUN advisor Pieter Derluyn. Her aim was to determine whether Anatolia’s conference offers the same high-caliber MUN experience that schools associated with THIMUN provide; our goal was to make sure we more than satisfied her expectations. Thanks to the hard work of the Student Services Office, of dedicated teacher-advisors, and of our enthusiastic students, we received good news this April. The ACMUN is now affiliated with the prestigious THIMUN conference!
Only forty-one other schools worldwide have earned this status. THIMUN chooses its affiliations carefully, seeking programs that “reach out to the local communities in which they are situated and encourage participation by local schools in their region” (www.thimun.org). We join the illustrious ranks of top-notch academies in Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America. Our new affiliation places us in an impressive league of conferences, which includes:
Beijing MUN (China)
Chennai MUN (India)
Deutsche Schule Athens MUN (Greece)
Doha MUN (Qatar)
Johannesburg MUN (South Africa)
Junior MUN (Turkey)
Malaysian MUN (Malaysia)
Paris MUN (France)
Robert College International MUN (Turkey)
St. Petersburg MUN (Russia)
St. Andrew’s MUN (UK)
THIMUN’s seal of approval, however, does more than put our conference on the map. While the international recognition is exciting, we can take even more pride in what the affiliation honors: the superb quality of ACMUN’s organization, topics, committee sizes and discussions. Such excellence was achieved through the efforts of Anatolia’s students, staff, faculty, and parents—a community dedicated to creating invaluable experiences and supporting exploration of a world beyond the school’s Thessaloniki campus.
Congratulations, Anatolia College, on your success!