TWO of Hillcrest High School’s top matric pupils, Joshua Coetzer and Cheyenne du Plooy, have just returned from the Global Young Leaders’ Conference held in New York.
The pair was among those nominated by the headmaster to attend this prestigious event. They went to Washington DC in the beginning of July where they first attended the pre and post-programme orientation conference for two days before being transferred by bus to New York for the main summit.
The theme of this year’s summit was Becoming Leaders of Change. More than 200 delegates attended and were divided into different countries where they received mentoring, prior to debating and finding resolutions for hypothetical situations.
Joshua was chosen as the president of the Security Council Meeting where the various ‘countries’ initially discussed resolutions that the UN might use to resolve a particular conflict, taking into account the cultural and belief structures of each country. This year they debated the Cyprus conflict.
He was then appointed as chairman of the final Global Summit held in the United Nations building where he organised the seating charts and presided over the entire proceedings.
Joshua was honoured by both of his appointments and said that the experience had been invaluable. He was also grateful for the opportunity to make so many friendships that he believed would be lasting ones.
“Technology has made the world a smaller place and it is so easy to stay in touch with the friends that I have made,” said Joshua.
Cheyenne said what she enjoyed about this amazing experience was the opportunity to learn so much about the different countries. “What struck me most was that we all want a better world and that can only be achieved by setting our prejudices aside,” she added.
Aside from the intense work, the delegates were given many opportunities to take in some sight seeing, notably the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Times Square and the Holocaust Museum.
