This spring, our grade 9 social studies students made the short journey from the LAS campus to Geneva to attend a live session at the United Nations. The session was held at the Palais des Nations, built in the 1920s as the home of the League of Nations and the site of some of the most consequential diplomatic efforts of the modern era. The visit brought recent classroom learning to life and students came away energized and excited to learn more!
 
International relations, global governance, and diplomacy can feel abstract when confined to a page or screen. Walking into the Palais des Nations and watching delegates from around the world debate real issues in real time changes that. Students saw the very processes they've studied—treaty negotiation, multilateral decision-making, the machinery of international law—actually at work. Witnessing these things firsthand produces a depth of understanding that no classroom lesson can fully replicate.

Developing Global Citizens
At LAS, we talk a great deal about what it means to be a responsible global citizen. The UN offers a rare window into what that actually looks like in practice. Students observed real debates on human rights, peacekeeping, and humanitarian crises, issues without easy answers, but ones that demand exactly the kind of engaged, respectful, cross-cultural dialogue we try to model in our own classrooms. The questions our students brought with them reflected that same spirit.
 

Understanding the Importance of Diplomacy
They asked their guide—a UN language interpreter—some very thoughtful and serious questions, such as why the UN had yet to intervene in the Israel conflict, and they probed the efficacy of the Security Council when permanent members with veto power hold such opposing political views. The guide answered every question thoughtfully and students were thoroughly engaged in the conversations that followed.

There is something powerful about witnessing the highest level of international governance, particularly at an age when students are actively forming their values and sense of responsibility to the wider world. One of the predominant takeaways was perhaps surprising: how frequently actions to resolve a vast range of complex issues happen. The UN in Geneva alone hosts around 8,000 meetings per year. Knowing that there countless people working relentlessly to make the world better was genuinely comforting for students to know.

Planting Seeds for the Future
Students also felt the weight and energy of the place. Many commented on how serious and inspiring the atmosphere was, and some left asking how one actually becomes a diplomat or delegate. We're not expecting every student to leave Geneva with a career in diplomacy mapped out, though the seed was clearly planted for some. What we hope is that the visit opens doors in their imaginations: to careers in international law, journalism, public policy, NGO work, or humanitarian service they may not have previously considered.

Rooted in Who We Are
At its heart, this trip is an expression of what LAS believes education should be. Our students come from across the globe, bring diverse perspectives into every conversation, and are preparing to navigate a genuinely interconnected world.

The United Nations—with all its complexity, its imperfections, and its enduring importance—is a mirror of that world. We want our students to see themselves reflected in it, and to leave Geneva with a deeper sense of both their place in the global community and their responsibility to it.