After 4 years of being banned, the Model United Nations club is back at school with new leadership, goals, and experience. 

Vice President Bala Sreenivasan has been in Model UN since its resurgence and has seen the shifts throughout the club from a leadership perspective.

“Last year we started as a very small club, and with that small club, there’s a lot of disorganized behavior,” said Sreenivasan. “And as we’re still a growing club, we prioritize proper structural growth.”

Sophomore Taneesha Mohanta has seen positive growth in the club since last year, especially because there are more experienced members in the club who can lead newer members and provide as role models.

“I think the progression has been really helpful in the way that, as more and more people are winning awards, it’s also helping new people that want to join Model UN have people that they can count on to give them information, and guide them,” said Mohanta. “Because, last year, we didn’t have anybody to be like  ‘this is how everything works.’ But this year, we’re just passing knowledge.”

Mohanta acknowledged that the club has easily progressed from one conference to the next, especially since they have much more access to different events happening throughout the year. However, Sreenivasan pointed out that, as a new club they still face many disadvantages when attending conferences, which he noticed when the club attended the Model Arab League conference, which took place Mar. 7-8, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

“I would say this is the most I’ve ever prepared for a conference due to the amount of variables that I couldn’t account for, and this was my first time doing Arab League,” said Sreenivasan. “[The conference] was a completely new environment where we’ve never been so it felt kind of awkward to go into.”

As well as the fact that the club is new at school, they face another disadvantage against schools that include Model UN as a class throughout middle and highschool.

“It’s actually extremely hard, considering that we’re even banned from Model UN for, what, seven years now. So giving us this big of a break in a game compared to students where they’ve been doing it since eighth grade,” said Sreenivasan. “It creates a big disparity, and that’s what we’re trying to fill in as a gap”

Despite the obstacles the new club faces they brought home several different awards and a lot of gained experience. Members of Model UN want to continue this progress and expand the club so that it is accessible to all students at school. Sophomore Nikhil Dogra joined Model UN this year and has his own goals for the club.

“I want to make inclusivity happen. Everybody from ninth grade to 12th grade feel like they’re all a team. You know?” said Dogra. “They can all work together to go out as one club and win things at every conference. Inclusivity is the goal.”