Qatar Leadership Conference Concludes
The first annual Qatar Leadership Conference for students, put together by Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar and THIMUN Qatar, concluded on Sunday in Education city. The first event of its kind brought together 400 attendees, including students, teachers, advisors and other members of academia. The event was designed to facilitate collaboration between MUN members from around the World and also to educate students about different aspects of film making.
Brendan Hill, the Associate Dean for students at Georgetown University SFS-Q, addressed the students at the closing ceremony. He noted, “Qatar Leadership Conference will provide the future leaders, the tools they need to realize their full potential. We at Georgetown University SFS-Q are very excited to partner with THIMUN Qatar and Northwestern University in Qatar for this first annual event.”
The conference was developed keeping in mind the needs of the current students and to prepare them for the time ahead. The three-day conference featured a number of speakers who discussed an array of topics such as “organizing events”, “community service”, “working with press teams”, “starting a debating club” and “social media”. Throughout the three days, students were given a chance to select different sessions and engage in dialogue.
Cameron Janzen, one of the organizers from THIMUN Qatar said, “We were very pleased with the opportunity to host MUN leaders, film experts and students from around the region. It was exciting to see students and teachers working together to develop their skills and share ideas; it was for these very reasons that the THIMUN Foundation and Qatar Academy partnership was formed. We are very grateful to all the presenters who came from around the world to work with conference participants in order to make the conference a success.”
Delivering the keynote address, Dr. Sandra Richards, Director of the Liberal Arts Program at Northwestern University, emphasized the need for leaders to practice empathy and mutual respect, especially in turbulent times. “It is more important than ever that we all try to find ways to state our opinions carefully, listen with sincere respect to others, imagine ourselves momentarily in someone else’s shoes, so to speak, standing in the vantage point of their histories, their present experiences, their hopes for the future,” she said.
One of the aims of the conference was to allow high-school students to participate and learn from an advanced level of discussion on Model United Nations. Sessions were facilitated and guided by experienced members of the MUN and academic communities from Qatar and around the World. This student conference will be held annually in Qatar, making this an essential part of the global MUN Calendar.