Have you ever wanted to experience creating peace between countries like the United Nations does? Well, Model United Nations does just that.
Carmel High’s Model U.N. club will be participating in the annual Santa Clara Valley Model U.N. Conference on Friday and Saturday, as a simulation of the United Nations to debate about global issues.
They will also be participating at the U.C. Berkeley conference March 8-10, the biggest Model United Nations conference on the west coast.
Usually each school is assigned one country to represent in the conferences, but this year CHS was assigned two, representing the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sri Lanka.
“We don’t have much time to go to more conferences like other schools that have the Model U.N. as a class with at least an hour a day and homework,” says senior Emily Wolfson, president of Carmel’s Model U.N. club. “They go to conferences all over. We are going to two, but we are very excited to be going to Berkeley.”
Last year the CHS Model U.N. club had 10 members, all girls. This year the club raised its membership to 20, and all members will be going to the Santa ClaraValley conference at SantaTeresaHigh School.
“Up until five years ago, the Model U.N. club was running, but after the seniors who were really involved in it graduated, the club in a way died out,” Wolfson explains. “Last year, Mr. [Paul] Delbick, the special education teacher, discussed with me that he wanted to start it back up again, so we sort of inherited it, and I became the president.”
“Santa Clara conference is more of a beginners’ conference, so it is less stressful than the Berkeley conference.”
Last year, the club was funded to attend to the Santa Clara conference by Padre Parents, but this year, the club had to do some fundraising for both of the conferences.
The Monterey Model U.N. Association was having a luncheon, so one of the club advisors, math teacher Michelle Pollock, set up a way for the club to have a booth at the lunch. The club received a donation of $1,000 from the Monterey Model U.N. Association, along with many other generous donations.
The price for the Berkeley conference was originally $300 per student to pay for their hotel and food costs, but dropped to $90 per student after fundraising.
Now the club is focused on being ready for the Berkeley conference. They are going to practice for the next few weeks on Mondays and possibly on weekends.
-ELEXIS PEREZ
