Diplomacy is a skill that can be applied to many aspects of life from comprising to real politics. Model UN club is a new club at Glenbard South which focuses on building and applying diplomacy as well as persuasive speaking skills. Those interested in going into politics, improving their public speaking or looking for a fun club that looks good on college applications will all be a good fit for Model UN. 

Model UN is a simulation of the United Nations in which students sign up for conferences ranging from 30 to 3,000 people. When going to a conference, the club as a whole is assigned a specific country from which it must explain its perspective on various topics. Within the club, individuals or small groups can sign up for their choice of committee before a conference. Each committee consists of one to three people who are the selected delegates on a certain issue. During the conference, each committee goes to its selected event and attempts to persuade others to side with its argument. There are a wide range of topics in conferences. Topics in a conference range wildly from Pokémon to human rights. Typically, the topics include several real world events, a historical event and a fun event.

Once a topic is chosen, the team moves on to preparation. Before a conference, the club must prepare. Two or more meetings are set up the week before each conference. During these meetings, each committee writes a position paper that explains the committee’s thoughts on an issue and how the committee wishes to solve it. The committee uses this position paper to outline its general argument, with talking points it needs to discuss. 

The first conference of the year is the Saint Ignatius Model United Nations (SIMUN) on November 2nd. In SIMUN, the committees offered include general assemblies, regional bodies, crisis committees, JCC Star Wars The Clone Wars and JCC Game of Thrones. To participate in SIMUN, one must sign up by October 17 and pay the $25 individual fee. The club will be configuring its arguments during the week of October 24th. 

Model UN is run by seniors Natalia Santis and Michael Taylor with their sponsor, Mr. Rodriguez. Meetings are held in room 301 as often as necessary. For more information, email Mr. Rodriguez, [email protected], or sign up for the Schoology group with the code JPJJ-HRDD-QH3DT.