A group of seven students accompanied by Elena Smilas and Philippos Pouroullis, just returned from a trip to The Netherlands. During their stay in Amsterdam, they visited the magnificent Rijksmuseum, enjoying an exhibition comparing Dutch and Spanish art, with a focus on Velasquez and Rembrandt; the highly moving Anne Frank House and the quaint and picturesque streets of Amsterdam and its canals.  At The Hague, one of the highlights of the trip was the special visit to the International Criminal Court (ICC), during which the students sat in the gallery of Courtroom III  to watch a live case: The Prosecution versus Domenic Ongwen, being charged for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in Uganda. This gave everyone a glimpse into what Marika Stephanou and Dimitri Pouroullis had to simulate in their own highly selective mock ICC. 

During the last three days of the trip our students participated in the XXIX Model United Nations International School of The Hague (MUNISH) conference. The conference was attended by over 1200 students from 34 schools from across the globe and focused on the theme of “Fostering Development: The Complexities of an Interconnected World.” All seven students, whether new to MUN or not, contributed significantly to their committees, making speeches, contributing clauses in other resolutions and debating fervently on the issues raised. In particular, Sophi Ioannides’ whole resolution was put forward for debate and was passed unanimously with every single country in her committee voting in favour of it. And finally, in the closing ceremony, we were thrilled when Egor Smirnov and Dimitri Pouroullis were awarded “The Best Delegate” in their highly competitive and challenging committees: The Historical Security Council and International Criminal Court respectively. We cannot begin to express how proud we are of our students, for excelling in the conference, making many new friends who even joined us at dinner, and for behaving impeccably throughout the trip, truly representing what it means to be a Heritage student! 

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