On Friday, thousands of people including students, parents, UNIS faculty members, Vietnamese government officials, Hanoi United Nations representatives, officials from the foreign diplomatic community, and other honored guests have gathered at UNIS Sports Center in order to celebrate our annual UN Day celebration. Along with the UN Day celebration, UNIS also celebrated its’ 30th year anniversary.  

With the advent of Doi Moi economic reforms in 1986 in Vietnam, UNIS Hanoi came to life in 1988. UNIS Hanoi was opened as a part of the United Nations sustainability project and ever since then, UNIS Hanoi has been proud to be part of the center for diversity and change in Vietnam.  

Today, UNIS Hanoi proudly represents 66 different countries out of 193 UN member states, and celebrating all 193 UN member states during UN Day celebration. UNIS Hanoi strongly upholds the United Nations principles as our guiding principle and our very moral foundation which includes:

“ 1. Promote peaceful solutions to problems,

2. Develop friendly relations among children and adults of different nationalities,
3. Promote cooperation in problem solving in economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian matters.
4. Encourage respect for fundamental freedoms and equality for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”

As UNIS Hanoi students, we are taught of these values and uphold them out in the seemingly darkening society as the light of the world. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 different goals with 169 different targets to solve world problems by 2030, and is another thing that UNIS teaches to all of its’ students. For this UN Day occasion, high school students have been doing “The World’s Largest Lesson”, where our high school students have been doing various different activities to learn about the SDGs.

UN day is a perfect occasion where we are encouraged to embrace and celebrate our identity with pride. The celebration was filled with colors of 169 different flags, religious articles, traditional food, and traditional dresses. The celebration consisted of inspirational speeches by our honored guests and student representatives, music performed by the UNIS symphonic orchestra, dances from our UNIS dance classes, and last but not least, lunch with traditional food from various different countries. We hope to see more positive changes in this world through UNIS Hanoi, and celebrate our success.

Here are some thoughts about UN Day from two seniors who have seen UN Day since Discovery:

Q1: Have you noticed any changes with the UN day traditions in our school?

Ha Nguyen: Yes. flag bearers used to be people who were here the longest, oldest, and youngest but now it’s random. I feel like that loses the significance of flag bearing. To be honest, I’ve been here for 15 years now, since discovery so  I thought me, and another person who’s been here as long would get to hold the UNIS flag at least. 

Q2: What do you think about UN day at UNIS?
Ha Nguyen: yay i have to diet to fit into my ao dai cause im so fat lmao

Q3: What’s your favorite part of the UN day?

Ha Nguyen: My favorite part would be taking photos and all the good Korean chicken.

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Q1: Have you noticed any changes with the UN day traditions in our school?

Lan Anh Foster: There have definitely been a lot of changes, from something as big as flag bearing, the activities that students do to something as small as where students eat after the ceremony. It was completely different from this year’s UN day, but of course, change does often happen for the better.

Q2: What do you think about UN day at UNIS?

Lan Anh Foster: Personally, I feel that UN day is very important to the culture of UNIS, and as a school with a direct connection to the UN it’s pretty much an obligation for us to have such an event annually. It must be hectic for teachers to plan their lessons around it, but I think it’s nice to have a day where I can be proud of my nationality and can see how much UNIS has changed since I first came.

Q3: What’s your favorite part of the UN day?

Lan Anh Foster: My favourite part would probably be the food 🙂