A Leaside Day

Hi everyone! Guess where I went today?

If you guessed Leaside High School, you're absolutely right. Remember the Model UN (United Nations) G20 Summit I was telling you about? Well, it was head at Leaside today. I had to miss an entire hour of sleep so that I could get to school on time to leave! So by 9:00am, I'd already yawned about 20 times, and was sincerely hoping that it really was a worthwhile trip. Did I mention how harsh the winds were this morning?

Anyways, it was a huge relief when we got inside. However, we got there around 15 minutes late (blame the TTC), so we had to rush into the auditorium. It was there where we met Michel Chikwanine, a motivational speaker. We learned his story; he was a child soldier growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He survived the war, which claimed 5.8 million lives, including his father, also a human rights activist, and one of his sisters. It was really a bone-chilling story, and really brave of him to share it was us all. At the end, we also learned that he works with Craig Kielburger, the co-founder of Free the Children, a foundation that helps bring to light and eliminate the exploitation of children around the world. It was a really moving presentation.

Next it was on to our actual conferences. I represented Argentina, and was part of the Economics committee. Our first resolution was the debt crisis in the European Union. Many ideas and arguments were brought up, particularly about the debt crisis in Greece. Some suggestions discussed was getting rid of the Euro (which did not manage to pass during the vote), and reducing the value of the Chinese and Indian currencies (which was greatly debated especially by China). In the end, we agreed that it would benefit all countries of the European Union to increase exports, and limit government spending. A G20 committee would also be created to oversee the financial situations in the various countries.

After a multicultural lunch made by a class of Leaside students — needless to say they didn't spend a million to make sure it wasn't poisoned or something >:) — it was back to work, and resolution #2: debate on whether or not to implement a bank tax, to solve the issue of wasteful spending by these financial institutions. Again there was much discussion. In the end, it was agreed that only on those banks that had wasted money — not the countries themselves — was a bank tax to be issued. Also, 85% of the money collected was to go to the federal government, while 15% was to be given to the IMF (International Monetary Fund), to be saved in case of another economic crisis.

Unfortunately because of time constraints, we never got to the third resolution — which was supposed to be the one I excelled at! However, it was still a great day, not to mention all the free goodies we got, like actual G20 Toronto pens and keychains.

All in all, it was just a really great day! We were all in high spirits at the end, and we were kind of sad to leave. However, we all really got a look at the way G20 summits are held (it was actually really professional. Like really professional.), and discuss issues as if we had power. It was a fantastic experience!

Coming home though, I know the work that will catch up to me tomorrow! First step was to check the Daily Log, and call one of my fellow CS friends to ask about what they did in class today... the Printer Project got taken up! I am more anxious than ever to get my mark... I wonder if I'll be able to go to sleep tonight.

Actually, I probably will, because boy, am I tired from 1) not getting enough sleep! and 2) the day's activities. So GOOD NIGHT!