For students that are interested in public speaking and international policies, Model UN (United Nations) is the perfect club to check out. It’s a club that aims to educate students in international affairs as well as improve students’ speaking and debate skills.

“Everyone needs to have skills where you can speak on the spot where you can have creative but also logical thinking skills, and these skills that we learn in MUN, we can also use in our other classes as well, not just those that are interested in international relations or those interested in debate,” says club Director of Communications, Shrutisri Sonekar (‘21).

Model UN holds conferences where clubs from different schools come together to debate international issues and try to reach a solution.

“There’s a topic and it’s different for each conference but you will be talking  about your topic and you will usually represent a country or a state, depending on the size of your delegation. You basically discuss possible policy resolutions in response to that issue,” says club Vice President, Shuchi Parikh (‘21).

For those new to Model UN, there are beginner level conferences to attend. Likewise, the more experienced members will attend conferences for those at a higher level. Although the conferences are split between level, the club works as a group to get everyone the best Model UN experience.

“You absolutely do not have to walk in being able to convey yourself effectively in front of a crowd or anything. That’s totally fine. You develop those skills as you go from conference to conference. And even within our club we have public speaking drills where you become more comfortable with the people around you,” says club President, Eshan Joshi (‘21).

In addition to these speaking drills, the club officers inform members of what to expect at conferences. This will help dissolve any confusion that they have.

“We start with a public speaking drill, and then, for at least the first couple of meetings, were explaining a lot of Model UN conference procedure because its new to a lot of people and we don’t expect everyone to have prior experience,” says Parikh (‘21).

Although conferences have been held in person at high schools and universities, COVID-19 concerns have pushed conferences to online. This does entail a few changes to Model UN’s conferences, but some might for the better.

“This year it might be more open because its online so they can accommodate more people, but usually theres a certain number of countries that were given by the school running the committee or conference, so we can only take a certain amount of people, so its first come first serve on that basis,” says Parikh (‘21).