A month after returning home from a memorable trip to Finland, a pair of Swift Current Comp students presented their experience from the Model European Parliament (MEP) yesterday to fellow students.

David Camarador and Sara Cronan travelled to the northern European country at the beginning of November to be two of the five representatives from Canada at the 47th international session of MEP, which simulates the working of the European Parliament for students aged 16-19.

Before leaving for their trip both students were given a package that included a question (issue within the EU) in which they had to prepare ideas to solve.

Camarador believes the Swift Current Comp Business Club helped prepare him for the atmosphere inside of MEP's lobbying session and the General Assembly.

"For me personally I learned a lot of confidence from the business club, last year I started the debate and I could never see myself standing up in front of a group of students, which wasn't the norm for me," he said. "Being able to stand up in front of the General Assembly which had over 100 people including the president of the Bank of Finland there. I remember the first debate I was in and I was shaking and now I feel like public speaking is easier to me."

Both Grade 11 students were split into two different committees, with Cronan part of the Women's Rights and Gender Equality group and Camarador part of the Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs congregation.

"Just talking about women's rights with other people from different countries because I think that's super rewarding for me just to see how things work in their countries," Cronan said her favourite part of the trip was. "That I could talk about this passion with other youth was really rewarding."

The resolutions that the committees were working towards proved to be tough, as both Swift Current students noted some people would look after their own self-interest or their countries instead of looking at the larger picture.

"I think it's interesting to see the different type of perspectives each country has," Camarador said, adding it was hard to put forth a two-or-three-page resolution that would have a positive impact on all member countries of the EU.

Both of the committees the Swift Current students were part of had their resolutions pass and will now be forwarded to the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, and the European Commission.

"I think that it's really important (that's forwarded on)," Cronan shared. "You have so many youth conferences around the world and you need to show them that their voice actually matters. Having them value our voices and our actual thoughts about these issues was really powerful to me."