Matthew excels at U.N. Youth Conference
Year 12 student, Matthew Brown was recently one of 10 students to attend the United Nations Youth National Conference after his standout performance in the U.N. State Conference event. It was quite some achievement!
Held in Melbourne, the week-long conference also hosted teams from New Zealand and Taiwan.
“I was a bit overwhelmed when I was told I was one of the 10 people, they took me away into a room with everyone who was running the conference and all I could think was oh no.. have I done something wrong?” Matthew laughed. “That was where they told me I had been chosen to go, I just thought wow.. I didn’t know what to do or what to say.”
“It’s something that I am really passionate about, and it’s a possible career for me in the future, so having that opportunity was overwhelming for me.”
This was the first time Matthew had competed in the State and National Conference, though he had the experience of his first ‘Evatt’ competition last year to back his confidence (where students debate resolutions on global issues as part of the U.N. Security Council).
Matthew claimed he was excited to get to the National event as it offered everything he wanted and more. “It’s debating, its world politics, it’s everyone who is interested in that, in one room and that’s why I wanted to do it, having that political sphere, and world issues, you don’t hear about that in Orange. It’s also a great way to gain Youth Leadership opportunities.”
Matthew continued, “The National Conference is State conference on steroids in a way, it’s students from across Australia, you’re not just getting opinions from NSW, you’re hearing issues from the Northern Territory, from Western Australia, and it’s interesting hearing what is relevant to regional NSW. For example, the drought, hearing our issues combined, all of those ideas coming together and what we can learn from each other, on a much bigger scale is very inspiring.”
The U.N. Conferences bring world issues to young people, they are then asked to discuss them and learn about them, they also host workshops around different themes. To stand out in the conferences, you are judged on engaging actively across all debates, negotiating, building skills in public speaking, diplomacy and teamwork, as well as how well you offer opinions and staying as inclusive as possible with the team you are in.
“I think the most valuable thing I took away from the conference was, don’t judge people when you first meet them. There was one consultation session we had, hearing everyone’s different stories on what is affecting them most in their communities, it got emotional and it was really eye opening because you are hearing different perspectives and you are learning to respect those people, and realise there are issues in our community that are in other communities as well.
At the moment, Matthew is currently undergoing the HSC process, though, he mentioned when school was over, he would look at becoming a facilitator in his gap year and volunteer in Thailand. All the best Matthew!