Making Connections; Opening Doors

by Miranda Liu

The United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York doesn’t seem like the sort of place you just go to. With its three-floor capacity boasting ceilings higher than 20 metres and its iconic eye-catching gold accent wall behind the podium featuring a larger-than-life UN logo, for most, it’s a place to be seen on TV or in photos, a place you could only visit in your dreams. But for six Sacred Heart juniors and seniors, that dream became a reality when, in March 2026, they traveled to New York for not one, but two very special invitations. 

The story began when the ISSH International Relations class was invited to join the 50th United Nations International School UNIS-UN Student Conference event at the United Nations Headquarters. “It’s invite-only, and this is the first time that ISSH has been invited to participate in person,” junior Konatsu shares proudly. “When Mr. Felstehausen printed out the email invite and brought it to class to surprise us, we were so shocked. Like, I don’t think we really understood what it meant to be invited.” The sentiment was shared by the entire group. “We were just so happy to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” May, a current senior, adds. 

And things already got better from there when the Sacred Heart Network brought another extraordinary opportunity to the students. “Sr Wachter connected us with Sr. Margaret Mwarili, because they used to work at the same school,” Konatsu explains. 

Sr. Margaret Mwarili, RSCJ, is based in New York as a part of the United States-Canada Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The Society has been present at the United Nations as a non-governmental organization (NGO) since 2003, and currently, Sr. Mwarili serves as the Society’s NGO representative. Through this role, she serves 43 countries across the Sacred Heart Network as a member of the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Team. 

Connection to Sr. Mwarili through the network was incredibly fortunate—as Konatsu explains: “Because she and Sr Wachter were connected, Sr. Mwarili was able to get us into the CSW70.” The CSW70, of course, being the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the UN group made up of delegates from around the world dedicated exclusively to the promotion of gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women. “We couldn’t believe that we were getting another amazing opportunity on top of the UNIS-UN Conference,” senior Sakurako shared.

The trip to the UN was an exciting one full of new experiences for the students—after flying to New York, they had to traverse the UN’s strict security before they could attend any of the week’s events. “To get into the building at all, you had to basically go through airport security,” Sakurako explains, gesturing for emphasis. “There was a huge line, like, the biggest line ever!” For the first day of their visit, the students had CSW70 passes, but it didn’t exempt them from the line. “We had to take off all of our jewelry, belts, everything—we went through the whole metal detector and all,” Konatsu adds. 

The students pose with Mr. Felstehausen outside of the UN Headquarters

Once they were inside, their access passes got them access to places they wouldn’t normally get to see. “With the CSW70 pass, we were able to access the entire conference side of the building—we basically had access to the same places the delegates had access to,” Konatsu shares. “We didn’t even eat lunch with all the other UNIS-UN participants.” It was here that they met Sr. Margaret Mwarili, who came with special access all of her own. “She opened doors for us… literally!” International Relations teacher, Mr. Mark Felstehausen, shares. The students recall her incredibly fondly, describing her as “so sweet and caring—and so confident.” Despite her packed schedule for CSW70, she was determined to make the visit a meaningful experience for our Sacred Heart students, giving them a grand tour of the conference area. “She wanted us to get the most of the CSW70 experience, so she literally took us to every single room, and to anything we were interested in,” Konatsu explains. “Even places we weren’t really supposed to go—she tried to just give us a peek.” “I feel like that really embodies who she is,” Sakurako adds. “The way she carried herself so confidently was so admirable.” Konatsu agrees: “She’s an incredible person.” 

Sr. Mwarili was busy during the conference and wasn’t able to sit with the ISSH students as they observed, but the experience was amazing for them nonetheless. “Some of the delegates were sitting upstairs, where we were sitting,” Sakurako explains, “So they were, like, right in front of us!” “We could see them taking notes and sending emails,” Konatsu adds with a grin, making it clear just how closely the group was able to observe the proceedings—truly a once in a lifetime experience. 

The next day, the group switched gears for the UNIS-UN Student Conference. This three-day event included talks from prestigious and experienced speakers such as Mr David J Firestein, President and CEO of  the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations and Ms Dominique Bichara, Former Special Representative of the World Bank Group to the UN, activities like a debate and an economic council simulation, and student-moderated panels, as well as three student presentations. It was attended by more than 30 schools from over 10 countries worldwide, giving the Sacred Heart students a chance to interact with young adults their age with diverse backgrounds and experiences from around the globe. 

Attending the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

One of the most meaningful experiences for the ISSH students was the student presentations. Leading up to the conference, UNIS shared a variety of ways to get involved with participating schools, from participating in a culture showcase to submitting short articles for the Visiting Student Working Paper. The Sacred Heart International Relations class chose to participate in the “Making CENTS of Change: Student Impact Projects and Speeches” program, which challenged participants to “create projects that use economics to accelerate positive change in their communities.” The prompt immediately spoke to the students. “We wanted to make something out of this opportunity, rather than just going to New York,” Konatsu expresses. “We wanted to dedicate time and work on something that will have a real impact.” 

The group came up with the idea to create a financial handbook for high school girls. As Sacred Heart students and members of a school community dedicated to empowering young women, the ideal felt like a fitting choice, given the prompt of a project related to economics and positive impact. With the goal of equipping girls like their friends and classmates with the information and skills they need to combat inequities such as the global gender pay gap, they set out to write an interactive and informative handbook, complete with useful tools for the immediate, like example contracts for common teenage jobs such as babysitting and tutoring. “What drove us to produce it was the persisting structural barriers that women face,” Konatsu explains, “That was the spark.” Upon completion, they submitted a three minute video outlining their project and how they hoped to present it at the UNIS-UN Conference along with their application and hoped for the best. 

The girls participated in a variety of activities during the UNIS-UN Conference
 

“We never really considered that we might be chosen,” Sakurako admits. After all, the UNIS-UN Conference organizers were to select a small number of “the most impactful projects,” and there were more than 500 students participating; their chances felt like a drop in the ocean. So they were shocked and thrilled to learn that they had been selected—just one of four student groups who would present at the UN General Assembly. 

And so Konatsu and classmate Jade took the podium on the first day of the conference—in fact, the very first student presentation. What might only be a dream for many became reality for them as they stood before the iconic golden backdrop, the large UN logo right behind their heads, and delivered their presentation about their handbook, Money is Power—Learn it Early: Empowering High School Girls, before 500 students from around the world. It was hard to express just how incredible of an experience it was; “It was really special,” is how the girls sum it up, with Mark adding, “It was so crazy… and it was really good!” 

After the presentation, the students had 10 minutes to answer questions from the audience, which they reflect on as an amazing experience that broadened their perspectives. “Obviously we made this as Japanese high schoolers, and it’s based on how to get a job as a high schooler living in Japan,” Sakurako explains. “But naturally at the conference, there were a lot of people from different schools, and they’re not all girls. So a lot of people were asking, like, ‘I’m a boy from Europe, how can I apply this in my life?’” “I remember a student from Mexico asking about how the pay gap might differ between Japan and his country,” Konatsu adds. “It gave us a chance to consider how our handbook could reach a global audience.” And overall, the feedback was hugely positive—in fact, “some universal feedback was that it was maybe the best presentation,” Mark shares. 

Konatsu and Jade present in the UN General Assembly Hall

Armed with feedback from the conference and back in Tokyo, the students are more inspired than ever, still basking in the excitement of the trip. “We’re making part two right now,” they gushed, flipping through a draft of the book demonstratively. “This is chapters one, two, and three, and we’re working on four, five, six, and seven.” They’re considering a Japanese translation to share with the other Japanese schools that participated in the conference, as well as our sister Sacred Heart schools in Tokyo, Shizuoka, and Hyogo. They presented about the handbook and its importance to the whole high school, and they’re preparing for an online publication to share it broadly with other high school students who may benefit from it. 

But what the group has taken away from the conference runs much deeper than the boundaries of their handbook or the timeline of their yearlong International Relations course. Attending the conference broadened the students' perspectives and inspired them to take new paths in the future. “I feel like I gained a lot of cultural awareness,” Sakurako reflects, “Like, obviously we’ve been going to international schools, but this really added to our understanding of international mindedness beyond what we even imagined we could improve on! Because the other students we met weren’t just from international schools, we met students from local schools in, like, Mexico, Australia, Andorra… even talking with the students from the local Japanese public schools really broadened my view.” Not only the content of the conference, but its organizers left a mark on Konatsu, who shares, “This conference was student-led; the two leaders were both seniors from UNIS. It was really interesting to see them working, and particularly to watch them during the student debates, working with people they’d never met before. That was really empowering, to be with such strong high schoolers.” They made friends with many of the fellow attendees, exchanging contact information with students from around the world, building the foundations of networks that will no doubt benefit them for years to come. 

And the UN itself left its mark on the students as well. “The General Assembly was just an incredible place to be. Not just the architecture—the ambiance of it all. Even just eating lunch there felt so empowering!” Konatsu shares. “Especially all the powerful women that we saw there during CSW70, they were amazing.”  Fellow senior Arin agrees, sharing, “It was an incredibly enlightening experience.” This trip truly highlights the extraordinary points of a Sacred Heart education—from our internationally minded students bringing together Goals 2, 3, and 5 to produce a top-tier project to support women in overcoming systemic barriers, to connecting with Sr. Margaret Mwarili through the Sacred Heart network and gaining access to meaningful, once-in-a-lifetime experiences through her exceptional kindness, our students both demonstrated and grew their courage and confidence. 

In turn, this experience will serve as a step in their journey to becoming empathetic and empowered global citizens in their lives. “This really motivated me to think that the UN is something I want to be a part of in the future,” Konatsu shared. “And I think just being able to be a part of this as high schoolers was an incredible opportunity.”