Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Global & Multicultural

My Experience at the United Nations Day Luncheon

This blog post was written by Aidan Dennis ’19…

On October 24th, the United Nations celebrated its 70th anniversary. This has been seventy years of growth and prosperity after World War II. For those that do not know, the United Nations was formed by a plethora of countries as member states in order to achieve international cooperation in solving various international issues and to establish a governing body to oversee international humanitarian efforts. Recognizing the importance of the United Nations is very essential for any college student regardless of major. The work of the UN and the resolutions that they produce effects all fields and majors: business, medicine, liberal arts, visual arts, etc. That’s why six other Glavin Global Fellows and I were ecstatic to take the opportunity to attend a luncheon sponsored by the United Nations Association of Greater Boston (UNAGB) with keynote speaker, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for current United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who oversees the operations of the entire United Nations.

un-day-luncheon-2016Stéphane made a lot of key points about the future of the country and the global world looking forward from the recent presidential election and issues that have troubled the United Nations the past few years, such as the growing refugee crisis in Syria and the issue of climate change. Although limited to a half an hour of speaking time, he stressed the importance of getting involved in the world and the keys to being a global citizen. Finally we learned about what Ban Ki-moon sought to do in his last month as Secretary General of the United Nations before he relinquishes the title to António Guterres of Portugal later on this year. Not only that, but we were all impressed by the presence in the room. There were consulate generals and diplomats from countries including but not limited to Mexico, Jamaica, Poland, Canada and France, strengthening the global presence and diverse backgrounds in the room.

Urging matters were pressed onto the high school and college students in attendance and how they could get involved from their own campuses and take initiative by acting locally and thinking globally. I learned more about how the United Nations operated as well as what issues were being pressed and prioritized going into 2017 as well as learning about the specific local efforts the UNAGB were taking to develop global mindsets in the Boston metropolitan area. Going forward, I think it’s something that Babson specifically can definitely learn from and apply especially being the thriving, diverse and global community that we are. Building rapport with the United Nations and the UNAGB in particular could be amazing for students, faculty and staff. I think this was an amazing opportunity as a student and I hope that other students can learn from similar opportunities and get to meet and foster dialogue with people who have had such an impact on the global community.

I am interested in getting involved in the Glavin Global Fellows.

Glavin Global Fellows pictured above: Nadia Mendes, Shaleen Sheth, Irene Laochaisri, Jose Damasceno, Aidan Dennis, Caleb Harbison-Wursten, Cameron Bailey