The Model UN club accurately simulates actual international issues and occurrences for which students can try to pass resolutions. Not all resolutions will be passed, but at his first conference in Topeka, Manhattan High Model UN member senior Muhammed Ciftci’s resolution was accepted.

Representing Suriname, a South American country, he proposed a resolution of staunch anti-terrorism measures, effectively ending terrorism in several countries. There were multiple bills that added up to 20 resolutions in total that student participants could vote on over the course of the conference that were based around conflicts relevant to this day and age. Whether these be about climate change or terrorism, the students had plenty of things to reflect on and be opinionated about.

“I voted on a global climate change bill,” senior and Model UN member Alan Brown said. “I thought it was very important, since it would end climate change. I also voted on the region of Crimea that is being disputed between Ukraine and Russia. I voted in favor of Russia because I wanted to avoid a world war.”

The conference was the club’s first since it was formed earlier this school year. To help gain more knowledge of what they would be doing, the MHS Model UN team met up with the Kansas State University Model UN team. The K-State team, led by political science professor John Fliter, has been competing in conferences for more than two years in cities all over the country. Not only did the K-State team give the high schoolers tips and advice, they also showed them how they were preparing for their upcoming trip to San Francisco. With this collegiate help, Ciftci will continue to do Model UN well into the future.

“I am definitely going to do Model UN in college,” Ciftci said. “I had a lot of fun.”

While Model UN can be fun as a simulation, there is a fair amount of work that one must do in order to best represent a country. Knowledge of the demographic of the people and current and past issues in the country is vital to being prepared for a conference. For example, if someone is representing Germany they may draft a resolution based on the migrant issue or if it is a Middle Eastern country it would be about the recent increase of terrorism or the Syrian civil war.

Overall, the Model UN team not only gained knowledge on how the actual United Nations works, but they also learned debate and historical lessons that will help the students with future pursuits in those fields.