Since its inception in 2005 with the launch of the Model United Nations Global Classrooms Program, the LAU Simulation Models (LAUSM)  have exponentially grown to include more programs: the Model European Union (MEU), the Model Arab League (MAL) and the Model Good Governance (MGG), as well as the annual international conference, Global Classrooms International Model UN in New York City.

In the past 20 years, the LAUSM have engaged more than 65,000 students from 220 schools across Lebanon.

“These are not just numbers,” as LAU President Chaouki T. Abdallah pointed out at the Awards Ceremony marking the closing of this year’s LAUSM, held on the Beirut campus on June 22. “It is a nationwide movement that brings together diverse voices, different communities and multiple generations in the shared pursuit of civic responsibility, diplomacy and ethical leadership.”

Describing the youth as “Lebanon’s most powerful hope at a time of international instability and uncertainty,” the president hailed their efforts as transformational and hopeful, as the programs constitute platforms for them to speak up, listen, lead and serve.

“This beautiful cycle of learning, leadership and service is at the heart of LAU’s mission,” added Dr. Abdallah.

Vice President for Student Development and Enrollment Management Elise Salem reflected on the difficult circumstances that forced a delay and threatened the continuity of the programs this year.

She expressed sincere gratitude to the middle and high schoolers, their school representatives and their families at the ceremony.

“On February 1, when we opened our campuses on weekends for training sessions, you all committed to joining, despite everything, or maybe because of everything. You, your families and schools are already champions for having endured, survived and even thrived,” she said.

Dr. Salem also gave an overview of the programs’ impact this year. Out of nearly 5,000 delegates registered, both locally and internationally, 650 received the Diplomacy and Secretary General Awards, of which half are scholarships to LAU.

Presenting the inaugural Rising Stars Awards, Lead Outreach, Leadership and Empowerment Manager Ghina Harb explained the significance of these awards, which are given in loving memory of two exceptional members of the LAUSM community.

“The first is late architecture student Cindy Najem, a sharp trainer whose untimely passing in 2017 in a car accident left a void in the hearts of many who knew her,” said Harb, announcing the recipient as delegate Leen Harb.

Another beloved trainer, LAU alumna Nour Chidiac (BS ’23; PharmD ’24), “had guided hundreds of students with humility and passion despite her courageous battle with illness,” according to Harb, who presented the award to student Tia Raad.

For LAUSM Secretary General Rita Nassif (BE ’25), the programs “build leaders, changemakers and the future of the world as they empower the youth who will go on to transform governance.”

She also recognized LAUSM’s partner, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, with whom the Model Good Governance team had compiled First Governance Nexus: Illuminating Insights, an overview of all the resolutions and policy statements in the MGG program.

Looking back on her own experience as a delegate, a secretariat member and secretary general, Nassif underscored how the programs gave her so much: “Lifelong friendships, a scholarship to attend LAU, a pathway to expression and a passion for the power of youth.”