Students from The Armidale School and Armidale High School represented countries from across the globe, and gave speeches on world issues.

Armidale High School student Ella Pringle stood for Ukraine and said it was interesting to consider issues that were relevant to today’s society.

“The instability of Crimea, the instability of the bonds between Ukraine, Crimea and the tension between the Russian Republic in Crimea itself are some of the issues we have been speaking about,” she said.

“We got here early and went to the library, we wrote some amendments that we thought would best suit the majority of the countries that are here in the real world.

“It’s about trying to pick where people stand to choose a relative approach to convince them to your side – I’ve enjoyed it a lot and I think everyone should get involved.”

In another classroom, students gave speeches on reforming the Australian education system, decreasing the impact of illicit drugs and increasing global education access for girls, among others.

The Armidale School student and Guyra boy Frank Perrottet chose decreasing the impact of illicit drugs.

“Some solutions I had were increasing education, if we harshen the punishment or legalise some drugs,” Frank said.

“That could stop the criminal drug market so that you know what goes into the drug and reduce crime.”

Representatives from UN Youth Jamison Anderson and Latifa Tasipale said the Evatt and Voice events have run in Sydney for a number of years and was starting to see traction in regional Australia.

“I think it’s really good for them to keep up with current events,” Ms Tasipale said.

“And definitely the type of analytical skills you develop from these events can help with other subjects.”

Ms Tasipale has taken part in the events herself as a school student and said she found them helpful.

“I think these are issues that they’ll end up having to face as adults,” she said.

“To start thinking about those solutions is really valuable.

“They could be the very politicians that end up changing the policies around these issues.”

In Sydney, hundreds of school students from Year 7 to 12 attend the UN Youth events – that encourage engagement with policy, social inequity and politics.

The events were held at The Armidale School for the first time on Wednesday, and the school hopes to get others in the region on board for the future.