“Zooming” Around the World To Make New Friendships

Emily Bechtel

As we begin this virtual KUNA, we see that ambassadors can almost literally “zoom” across the world in the World Expo. In this event, each school presented their represented country’s culture and potentially its resolutions. Though the World Expo may be different in-person, this year’s virtual representation did not let down.

The virtual platform consisted of five breakout rooms that would present for about fifteen minutes, then ambassadors would switch to a new breakout room to allow them to experience more countries.

Just one of the many that stood out in this virtual platform was the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom’s presentation included an accurate representation of the country’s culture and ideals as many of the countries did during the World Expo; however, they also provided information about the specific lands of the country such as Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. They talked about each part of the United Kingdom as if each was just important as the one before. Within explaining all of its components, the country’s ambassador also explained the importance of their resolution concerning the mental health of teenagers after being impacted by the occuring pandemic.

Though many of the breakout rooms were serious about learning the cultures of the representing countries and the resolutions that would be debated the following day, one breakout room stood out from the rest. This was breakout room number four. Though they still presented the cultural representations, this breakout room was more interactive as they spoke about policy issues as well as talking about casual conversations. None the least, they accurately represented what a true United Nations meeting would look like. One where countries can talk about their cultural and political beliefs, but also to engage with one another socially as ambassadors.