Did you know that Wheeler has its own Model United Nations club? Model United Nations is a club that stimulates the actual United Nations but for high school students. High schoolers involved in Model United Nations, or Model U.N., can attend conferences that other high schools or colleges usually hold. Before the students go to the conference, they are assigned a country or committee. While there are a lot of different committees to which someone could be transferred, one example is DISEC, which stands for Disarmament and International Security Committee.
Another example could be ECOFIN, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council. Once the students are assigned their country and committee, they get the topic(s) they’ll research, write, and speak about. They are then responsible for researching their country’s stance on the subject (s) and writing a one-page position paper. I interviewed some members of Wheeler’s Model U.N. for more information. One member I talked to was Yasha Padmanabhan, one of the club’s co-presidents. Yasha is a junior at Wheeler and has been in Wheeler Model U.N. since her first year. At the most recent conference Wheeler attended, UGAMUN, hosted by the University of Georgia, she represented Singapore in Ecofin. Ecofin is the Economic and Finacial Affairs Council, and it handles economic issues and examines how sustainable and socially equitable the solutions are. She also recommends that anyone interested in joining Wheeler’s Model U.N. club join. “Just because you don’t have to like international affairs or politics or know a bunch of stuff to be able to 1: be successful in it and 2: want a career path. No matter what career path you want in life, for example, if you want to go into computer science or if you want to be a biologist, or even if you do go into international affairs, you are going to have to speak in public no matter what.” Next, I interviewed Suchita Vanguri, a senior at Wheeler who has been in Wheeler’s Model U.N. since her first year. She is vice president of the club, responsible for many logistical duties, and will also be assisting in running Wheeler’s upcoming conference that the school is hosting. She originally joined Model U.N. because her friend told her Model U.N. is good for your college resume, which it is! Suchita attended her first conference online in March 2021; she had a lot of fun and stayed friends with people she met, and decided that she should continue doing Model U.N. Suchita also said, “I think everyone should join Model U.N. I think it builds a lot of important skills in your life, not just for Model U.N. and gaining knowledge about the world, but I think it’s important because it helps you learn how to interact with people more.” Overall, Model U.N. is an exciting, fun, and beneficial club for anyone who joins. Based on these interviews and the other people I heard from, it would be an excellent club to join, whether you’re looking for an extracurricular to make you look better to universities or want a fun club to do in your free time.
Credits: 1. Model U.N UGA Google Drive
2. Model U.N UGA Google Drive
