Model UN is one of the many clubs that has been affected drastically the past few years, especially by COVID-19, when many in person conferences were canceled and everything was moved online. Model UN is a club that aims to simulate a United Nations general assembly. The group traveled to Chicago on Feb. 2 for a large in-person conference, providing a great opportunity for members to travel and participate with students from different schools all over the country, to meet and work with. Model UN leader and member Sam Leslie ‘24, who has participated since he joined Blake in 9th grade believes, “last year there was little engagement because of virtual conferences, which was not a very viable option, but this year we’ve had more members because of the in-person options, which give the opportunity to interact and meet with different people from across the country.” Leslie continued saying, “The schedule [In Chicago] is pretty filled, however they do give you time in the morning or afternoon to go do something in Chicago.” So far in this Model UN season, the main topic has been overfishing, with many conferences relating to finding solutions to overfishing. Currently their topic is the Simun conference which is a simulation with 10 committees based in 1982 and 10 of the modern day interaction with each other on different world issues of those different times. For some people Model UN is already something familiar, with some in the club who have done Model UN in middle school. Max Unglaub ‘26, a current member who participated in the middle school club, believes that “It’s a new experience, I did Model UN in middle school but High school is very different because there are more in person conferences and everything is a lot larger.”
