…to be a club leader

I started my freshman year, which would have only been two and a half years ago. Even still, it feels like it’s been so long since I started doing Model UN.  It was a lot less formal then, and it wasn’t as structured. You didn’t get a lot of work, and it just wasn’t what it is today. I tried to add on to that when I became president

For people who don’t know, Model UN is exactly what it sounds like. A model of the international organization otherwise known as the United Nations. But on a high school level, we mainly focus on designing possible solutions for modern world conflicts based on our own research. Sometimes, we present these ideas by going to conferences. Our most recent one was hosted at Carthage College.

The club itself has a reputation looking good to colleges. Because of that, my sister actually started the club herself. With both of those in mind, I felt a little pressured to join. My parents were always talking about how good it looks on applications. But then, I started to enjoy it, and I began to realize how great of a club it actually was. After that, all the pressure went away. It was just a fun, extracurricular activity.

Even still, there’s more to actually leading the club than most people realize. I think we all know the difficulties of organizing and scheduling a meeting. Doing it on a weekly basis makes it different, more difficult to actually get people to keep up their attendance and stay engaged. 

I just took for granted how much my sister, the prior president of the club, had to do to get people to conferences. There’s just so many things that need to be organized: permission slips, transportation, chaperones, timing, everything. There’s so much work put into it, which I just never realized when I was a member. I just showed up with my binder, essays and all that. No, there was actually a lot that went into it, and I didn’t realize that.

Speaking of which, it gets difficult to manage both the club and my normal school work on top of that. I mean, there’s school, there’s clubs, there’s sports…. there’s just so much going on. High school is just so busy. Like sometimes you don’t get a lot of sleep, and sometimes you’re just tired, dragging yourself through your day. 

Even with all that piled on top, I actually really look forward to the meetings during my week because it’s nice to see the people I’ve worked with all year. It’s nice to just talk to people, and I really like how it’s somehow created a calm environment for everyone involved. Most importantly, I think it’s a really great experience after a long, stressful day. It helps that I run the club because I know everyone is also busy with their own work.

This year has been tougher than most. As a junior, you take your toughest classes, and you have to think about tests like the SAT. Right now, I’m trying to balance 5 AP classes on top of Model UN, tennis, and a few other clubs. 

Next year, I think I’ll have a lot more time on my hands, which I could put towards Model UN.  During senior year, I’ll get to take more classes that I’m interested in for more than just the college application, so I should have a lot more time to focus on Model UN: getting people to come, having more information together before a meeting. Hopefully, it’ll be a really good year.