The world has a multitude of pressing issues, such as the refugee crisis, climate change, and nuclear proliferation. These, and many others, are all topics the United Nations must deal with on a regular basis. Students on the Niles West Model United Nations team simulate the organization to gain experience in the process of international diplomacy and problem-solving.

According to Model UN sponsor Neil Koreman, the goal of the club is to prepare young students for leadership in a developing world.

“Model UN is a student club that mimics the United Nations, and the goal is to model leadership, decision making, and resolving global conflict,” Koreman said.

Last season the team traveled to Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The delegation was small, but it allowed for the students to become more tight-knit as a team.

“We did a couple of activities together as a team at the conferences, and that’s why I think Model UN is a unique extracurricular compared to other ones at Niles West,” senior and Director-General Umar Ahmed said. “With most other clubs that travel around, you don’t really have the opportunity to get out and do much. But when we went to St. Louis we stopped at a UNESCO Heritage Site, one of two in the United States, and that was a really interesting opportunity. In Michigan too, we were able to just come together and really bond as a team. Every conference we have a team dinner, so last year I think that we spent a lot of time really just developing and getting to know each other and having a sense of camaraderie on the team.”

Senior and Secretary-General Caelin Muniz hopes to expand membership of the club this year, while also leading the delegation to success at a variety of conferences.

“My goals for the team are recruiting more freshmen and sophomores, and maybe juniors who will be able to lead next year. Just having more people come out, in general, would be great,” Muniz said. ‘The first conference is the Washington University conference, and that has a lot of fun committees, a lot of communism based committees, medieval Europe committees, and even a Lord of the Rings committee. Then there’s CIMUN (Chicago International Model United Nations) that we’re going to which is in the Hilton on Michigan Avenue downtown. And then there’s MUNUM, which is the University of Michigan, and NUMUN, which is Northwestern University.”

Koreman would also like to boost membership of the club, so more students can get the benefits of attending a Model UN conference.

“I want to increase the number of students who are participating because I think that young people will benefit from training in conflict management, communication styles, and in leadership development. I wish to expand opportunities for students to ditch school, go to a cool conference, and have doughnuts.”

Model United Nations meets in room 3335 on Tuesdays after school.