Model UN is a club offered at the school that allows students to learn about other countries in depth. Modeled after the United Nations, at the beginning of the year the students pick what country they want to become the delegate for. After spending time researching, they are presented with a list of issues. They must pick one and work to solve it in a manner that their country would as well.

“…Over the course of five or so months, I spent a couple hours a week researching the political stances and history of that country. This year I had India and they are currently really involved in the development of new COVID vaccines,” Ethan Rottinghaus, senior, said. “I wrote a couple papers and then got picked to give a few speeches during the conference that we had online in late February.” 

In a normal year, a conference would be held over a span of two days at the Ramada. Several schools would attend, and each council would have their own conference room to discuss with one another. However, due to restrictions, the conference was held virtually. It was spread out throughout the week, with students joining in over zoom. 

“I think the most fun came with the actual conference because you can actually use what you’ve been working on for months and get to have discussions with people from all over the state of Kansas over topics you would never get to have in a typical classroom setting,” Rottinghaus said. 

Three students from the Model UN club received recognition at the conference in February. In General Assembly I, Rottinghaus, delegate for India, placed first and Jackson Henderson, sophomore and delegate for Saudi Arabia, won Best Affirmation Speech. In General Assembly III, Ben Weinzirl, senior and delegate for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, won Best Negation Speech. Both Rottinghaus and Weinzirl have participated in Model UN since seventh grade. 

“I was so impressed with this group of students who stepped up to do Model UN this year given all of the changes due to Hybrid Learning,” Robyn Aeschliman, club sponsor, said. “Since we did not have an awards ceremony this year to reward top delegations and delegates, I decided to provide an award to each of the students. It was my small way of saying thank you for all of their efforts.”