Model United Nations

Attempting to look at global conflicts from the perspectives of countries all over the world, Model United Nations (Model UN) is continuing the conversation of humanitarian crises and human rights violations virtually this year. Due to the lack of in-person events, the club structure is more discussion-based rather than conference-oriented. 

Model UN meets every Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. on Zoom and is open to anyone. To join, new members can direct message the club’s Instagram account @pwestmodelun or email club president and junior Santi Lugo directly. From there, he will add you to their GroupMe, where you can find the Zoom link and information about meetings, such as what the discussion topics will be.

What is the purpose of your club? 

“I think the purpose of our club is to see how we can think of ways that peace can be enacted in our world and how as young leaders, as the future leaders of the world, we can come up with solutions and ideas and ways that a body like the United Nations can create a more peaceful world for us to live in.”

What is your favorite part of your club?

“I think conferences are so fun, and Civitas has been doing a good job trying to keep doing conferences and stuff [online]. I think it’s a great way to expose yourself to different issues [and] to how different people may react, but it’s also a way to advocate for what you believe. I personally think it’s really fun to interact with people from different schools and try to see how different countries would work and think of how the United Nations would work in real life and how getting [a] consensus across can be done with such a vast array of people, beliefs, cultures [and] countries that make up the United Nations.”

Why would you love to have new members join your club?

“Since our club right now is very discussion-based—and I kind of like it that way—I think the more people we can have that are willing to share their perspective is really helpful for us because we are exposed to more information. I also think that as we prepare to equip people to be future leaders of the world, it’s really valuable [to have] more people in our community that are engaging in significant conversations about making peace, about diplomacy, about advancing our world. I think that is really valuable both for us as a club, because we have more experience and better conversations, but also for our community in general because we are fostering the development of our leaders in a much more significant way. Anyone is welcome whether you want to talk or just listen. If you are passionate about human rights or social justice, or even if you just want to learn about it, just want to sit in on meetings and listen. There is no obligation for anybody to speak or share or come to a certain number of meetings or attend a certain number of conferences.”