Plano West hosted a Model United Nations Mock Conference on Sunday, September 25 in the presentation room to prepare students for the competition year.

Model United Nations, also known as Model UN, is an organization for students that simulates the United Nations General Assembly. Each student serves as a representative of a country or organization, focused on finding solutions to real-world problems.

Manha Haque, senior and co-vice president, participated in Model UN conferences since eighth grade. She started at the Plano YMCA and formed the club at Jasper High School during her freshman year alongside Anika Damle, co-vice president and senior.

“Model UN is just us, students, modeling the United Nations. It’s a really good way not just to talk to other people and meet new people, but to really learn about problems that are affecting our world and to try to get a glimpse of how the UN is working through them,” said Haque.

At the mock conference, students were split into three different committee groups. The groups were presented with different topics and were all expected to resolve that conflict by the end of the conference.

“I didn’t think it was gonna go this well, but this is exactly how it is,” said Haque. “We break up into separate rooms, we work on ideas based on what committee you’re in, and [we] work through the problems together. I think everyone here is doing a really good job for their first time.”

Students from Shepton, Jasper, and Allen High School attended the conference. They all got the opportunity to represent their school in detailed debates and conversation during the moderated and unmoderated caucuses.

Olivia Sullivan, freshman at Shepton, is a first year student in the club. She joined due to her interest in speech and debate, and found this to be the best way for her to express that interest.

“I was really interested in this sort of experience with debate, as I don’t really have enough time to join speech and debate itself, I saw this as the perfect opportunity for me,” said Sullivan. “I feel like I’m being prepared very well, especially from this experience.”

Students from the feeder high schools were able to get an in-depth understanding on what their future in Model UN would look like. Club members provided informational sheets to help them use throughout the debates.

Medhansh Kashyap, senior and president, started Model UN when he was in the seventh grade. He was given the opportunity to travel to well-known colleges and found a whole new view on Model UN.

“In my freshman year, I attended Stanford and Berkley for their model UN conference.” said Kashyap. “Everyone in that room isn’t trying to win the best delegate award. We’re really trying to help each other and we’re really trying to make the best solution. It’s an environment I want to be a part of.”

Now, Kashyap uses his hard-earned skills that he’s mastered throughout the years to help many students be the best delegates and people they can be. 

“This role of being able to teach and being able to give back, means that I can enjoy this even more,” Kashyap said, “I’m able to expose these students to Model UN and set them up to do well in conferences.”