Once per year, the United Nations (UN) hosts a general assembly on Tuesday of the third week in September, coming together to discuss recurring or new issues, appointing a secretary-general, and making recommendations for future situations.
Same goes for the Model UN club at Taft. Every school year, the club meets on each Monday from three to four p.m. once per week after school, they discuss recurring or new issues, appoint a club leader and most importantly, prepare for competitions in order to win awards and accomplishments. What will the club do this school year compared to previous ones?
“This year, we have more students in the club than the previous year which was 15 students, now it’s 25,” said club sponsor Alexander Weldon. “Our first topic is freedom of press, specifically in regards to how much freedom do journalists have in countries to ask questions, speak and publish stories related to any topics.”
Weldon later said in regards to how the club will perform this year, “I think the club will perform pretty well compared to previous years due to more members, this allows for discussions of bigger and larger world issues.”
Weldon later said that when the new simulations are done, they are focused on least to most enforced countries by a specific category, topics, or issues. In this case focused on countries that have issues with freedom of press.
“The reason I joined this club is because I was interested in Global Politics and finding solutions to problems that are being discussed,” said Club President Jack Matheis. He represents Saudi Arabia, the least enforced country in regards to freedom of press.
Matheis said in regards to what will be done this year, “As of now a lot of conflicts are going on in the world, which also will be discussed by the club along with more issues and the scale of them.” He continued, “This will be a good year for this club, there are the most people ever, due to this we can discuss more issues and issues that are larger in scale.”
Taft senior Isaac Ng, a club member, said, “I joined the club because I like politics and learning about other countries.” Ng also mentioned the community of the club. He said, “This community is very fun and energized and I get along with other members very well.” Ng represents Russia and has good relations with Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Overall, the projected future for the Model UN is looking in good-shape and is in for greater ambitions. It will be seen on how they will perform in future competitions and awards, but for what it’s worth, it seems it will turn out better or even excellent for them than previous years.
