“Sometimes even the shiest of the shy kids can come alive when they don’t have to be themselves,” said Emily Muellenberg, social studies teacher and Model United Nations advisor. Model United Nations is a simulation of the United Nations for high school and college students.

  In Model UN, students become a representative of a real country and are in charge of making decisions as that country. According to the UNA USA(United Nation Association of the United States of America), “While playing their roles as ambassadors, student ‘delegates’ make speeches, prepare draft resolutions, negotiate with allies and adversaries, resolve conflicts, and navigate the Model UN conference rules of procedure – all in the interest of mobilizing international cooperation to resolve problems that affect countries all over the world.”

  Model UN is a tool for college. Not only do you have to study and research your country, but it also gives you great communication skills. Muellenberg said, “We joke that it’s like fun homework because you have to research, you have to prepare a position paper- it’s like a short statement, but when you are in the room you’re negotiating, you’re arguing, you’re trying to cut deals with people and so it’s very high energy.”

  Not only will it prepare you for college, but it also looks fantastic on a college resume. “When we asked college admission officers ‘What is the one extracurricular that prepares kids for college?’, they actually said Model UN. So not only does it look good on the resume, but once you arrive at college you walk in with this skill set that your peers might not have been exposed to,” said Muellenberg.

  Model UN is not a big time commitment either. Muellenberg said, “What’s nice about Model UN is when you join, you’re not really committed. If you can come one Saturday, but not two months later, no problem. You just go to the conferences that fit your schedule. So we have had a lot of kids who able to do one conference all year and that’s ok.”

Aidan Cox, Staff Reporter