Model United Nations (MUN) is often represented as a quintessential part of every high school in movies. The montage of rows of students congregated in suits and professional clothing with little flags sitting on the tables in front of them. While Model UN at Chamblee was discontinued for several years, it is being restarted this year, and seems to have already intrigued many students based on the high turnout at their interest meeting.

“I don’t know if [MUN] stopped because of [the COVID-19 pandemic] but there was a Model UN. I know Ms. [Andriano] was the sponsor for a year, but then she stopped because she was focusing on Yearbook, but it did exist at the school before,” said Meghan Bosman (‘23), one of the MUN officers.

The club is led by students Meghan Bosman, Grace Seel (‘23), Lauren Cise (‘25), and Lyvia Huang (‘25) with Ms. Stanhope as their teacher sponsor.

“I like to learn, so this will be a huge learning opportunity for me because I was not a Model UN-er when I went to Chamblee. We did not have Model UN so I’ve never actually been to a conference, so I’m really excited about that as well,” said Stanhope. “Plus, they needed a sponsor and the four young women who founded the club were so persuasive. That kind of their enthusiasm made me want to do it.”

Model UN is a unique opportunity for students to experience a simulation of the United Nations’ multilateral bodies as they debate relevant topics as ambassadors for various countries.

“Basically the club gets assigned a country, we go to different conferences, and we represent that country and its circumstances and views. You argue for that country and represent what they would believe in,” said Bosman.

Stanhope expresses the value of these skills that students develop as they are particularly relevant to the current political environment of the world.

“It’s a really unique simulation. You get students thinking about peace, and it shows how hard peacemaking is. It’s really easy to talk about peace, like we all want to raise people’s standard of living, but we have to give something up. I think it puts students in the role to experience the negotiation skills and the compromise skills which are very difficult,” said Stanhope.

At the interest meeting held on the 16th of August, attendance was high, with students of a variety of grade levels present. Stanhope is enthused about this turnout, hopeful that it is indicative of the upcoming MUN season.

“If the meetings are like this morning, like we have that many people at conferences, I think they’ll be phenomenal. I would be very happy with that outcome,” said Stanhope.

Interested students have a variety of reasons for wanting to participate in Model UN. Sophomore Emma Huitt (‘25) explains how both representation in the media and college resumes contributed to the appeal of the club.

“I have seen some stuff about the club before, like on movies and TV, and I thought it looked kind of interesting. Also, it’s really good for college and putting it on my transcript, so I’m definitely [partly] doing it for […] that, but also it just seems like something that I would really enjoy,” said Huitt.

Other students have previous related experiences that incited their desire to join the new club.

“I was in debate club in ninth grade, but unfortunately, we don’t have a debate club anymore. But I really liked the whole perspective of arguing and I really like history and geography in general, so I wanted to participate in something that I get to continue that passion,” said Jahin Zashim (‘23).

Because of the pandemic and the club being inactive in the last few years, however, most attendees do not have past MUN experience. The same holds true for the leadership, posing a potential challenge to overcome for the upcoming season.

“The four of us who started it back up, we know about the club, obviously, and we’ve done research, but nobody has experience doing it. So that’s a little scary knowing that […] we are lacking experience,” said Bosman.

Chamblee’s Model UN already has some conferences scheduled for the 2022-23 year, including the GSMST and Georgia Tech MUNCs, and is looking to attend a third. These events are one of the highlights that prospective members are looking forward to for MUN.

“Going to overnight trips […] is fun to bond with everybody and get to know people outside of school,” said Hanna Lin (‘24).

Bosman expresses that the current meeting time for Model UN is Tuesday mornings for interested individuals.

“I think our plan is once every few weeks, except when we get closer to the conferences we’re going to meet more often to prepare for them. We might [also] meet after school, for extra preparation time,” said Bosman.

Stanhope wishes for the MUN to maintain engagement and be accessible in its first year as a reestablished club.

“I don’t want anyone to think that it’s prohibitive due to cost or it’s prohibited due to knowledge, like they don’t feel like they know enough about the world to enter it,” said Stanhope. “I hope people all feel like they’re able to join no matter their level of knowledge.”