Model United Nations, or Model UN, is a popular club throughout the world that has made its return to Annandale High School since its inactivity before and during COVID-19.

Model UN is a club that simulates an actual UN assembly where students get to represent a country and advocate for solutions to problems their committee faces. Students get to compete against other schools at conferences and pretend to be at actual UN assemblies.

The club is sponsored by Mr. Zaret and Ms. Harrell and members met during the monthly activity days and got to practice researching countries and creating solutions.

“I tried to go to as many meetings as I could, and working on research with friends was fun” Junior Semir Ali said.

Apart from being lots of fun, students who participate in Model UN can gain valuable skills and experience that can help them in the future. 

“Model UN gives students an opportunity to interact with students from all over the nation in committees, which help them build their leadership, reasoning, and bargaining/negotiating skills. They can make friendships or (fake) enemies, and learn how to obtain what they want out of a specific situation.” Club Sponsor Ms. Harrell said.

After practicing for months, students in Model UN got to compete in the TechMUN XXX Conference hosted by Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology on March 24-25, 2023.

“The conference was very fun and I was able to meet a lot of new people. They all were very encouraging and I think the critiques that I got really helped me in growing my public-speaking skills” Semir Ali said. 

“It [was] so exciting seeing the students work with other students from all over Virginia to scheme and make decisions for their assigned committees.” Ms. Harrell said.

Model UN will return in the 2023-2024 school year.