Model UN, the speech and debate program offered at middle and high schools around the world, is making its comeback at EHS.

The club saw widespread success for years, offering students the chance to learn about worldwide policies and hone their public speaking skills, but student interest waned during the COVID-19 pandemic. The club remained active, but faced a down period for several years after. 

“Last year I was the president, but there were only five members,” junior Sid Girada said. 

The former sponsor, Jeff Gall, retired at the end of the 2024-25 school year. This opened up the sponsorship position, and provided an opportunity for a new teacher and students to revamp the club. 

At the beginning of this school year, administrators reached out to teachers in the social studies department to see if anyone was interested in taking on that position. It eventually went to Christina House, a World Geography and German teacher.

“I’ve never been in the club before, but I’ve been doing a lot of my own research on it and I am interested in foreign policy,” Ms. House said. “And, I teach German, so I’m interested in other countries around the world as well.”

Ms. House spent the first few weeks of school getting ready for the club’s first official meeting, held on Monday. Much of her preparation included reaching out to other teachers and professors in the area, researching the club’s purpose and procedure and collecting materials that would help make the transition into a competitive season easier. 

 “I’ve been emailing [the Liberty Middle School Model UN sponsor] and some people at Triad as well, just to get an idea of what [Model UN] is,” Ms. House said. “I’ve been reaching out to Mr. Gall to get some of his old files and paperwork … I made a PowerPoint introduction, and I’ve contacted McKendree University several times. It’s a lot more than you realize.”

She recognizes that there will be difficulties with getting the club up and running, but has high hopes for the future. 

“Some of the things that are going to be challenging are getting used to the structure that is Model UN, so things like parliamentary procedure, debate and negotiation, picking out topics for specific countries,” Ms. House said. 

Some of the students who have played a role in revamping the club have been brainstorming ways to increase awareness and funds. 

“[The club] has zero dollars in funds, and we were wanting to go to Chicago,” Girada said. “We discussed a ton of fundraising ideas, but we eventually settled on selling candy in the commons.”

Despite Ms. House being new to Model UN, several students have prior experience from the middle school teams that could be valuable as the club grows.

 Freshman Priyalakshmi Janardhan competed on the Liberty Middle School team last year, and hopes to return the club to its former standing. 

“Although Model UN at EHS has been rocky, I hope to get it going and get us to nationals by my senior year,” Janardhan said. “I have so much drive for Model UN because I am confident in my ability to learn …and I’ve always been driven to improve the current state of our government.”

Girada also competed at the middle school level and is looking forward to the year ahead. 

“I did Model UN when I was in middle school and it was something I was naturally good at, so I was excited that it’s making a comeback this year,” Girada said. 

The club has seen moderate student interest so far, but Ms. House hopes to increase attendance as the club expands and finds its footing. 

“I think there were 15 or 16 people at the meeting [Monday], and I have 20 people in the Schoology group right now,” Ms. House said. “Ideally it would be nice to have 20-30 people on a regular basis, but I understand that it’s going to take a little while to build up.”

With potential competitions coming up at McKendree, the team will have its first opportunity to lay a foundation for the club’s success, although Ms. House is more focused on a good experience and team bonding than taking home trophies with such a young team.

“I’d like to just get our feet wet and see how it goes,” Ms. House said.