Upon discovery of an absence, a new club comes forth.

The Model United Nations Club, founded by sophomore Karishma Rana, is currently organizing and planning the future of its first year of operation.

“The UN is a very important part of the world; it unites all these different countries, and it takes stances that influence decisions that governments end up making,” Rana said. “It’s important to be educated on current events, and I felt like our school could use a model UN to be more educated and informed.”

Rana will be taking the lead role, as President and founder, in expanding the club and planning its meetings and practice general assemblies, as well as looking for opportunities to compete. She hopes to take the club to the National New York Conference, stressing the importance not on winning, but on the experience and learning opportunities such an event has to offer.

“I like the idea of simulating international politics because most of the time when you think about politics, especially in the news, it’s most likely about politics primarily in the US,” junior Jack Trigg said. “Looking at politics through another country’s point of view…that’s incredibly interesting.”

The club is looking forward to attending its first conference, a meeting of multiple regional schools that will each represent an assigned group of countries to form a collective. Each school is assigned a different list before each event, and they must appropriately represent the views of those countries at each conference.

“I originally joined because it sounded like a cool thing to do – just the fact that it’s like all different countries with different ethnicities and religions coming together for the common good of the world,” freshman William Hubbard said.

The club will be meeting once a week to practice and simulate UN conditions, discussing global issues and preparing for the Tampa Bay Model United Nations Conference to be hosted at USF.

“I see it as a way for students to become more aware of the world around them and identify specifically what the needs are beyond the United States,” sponsor Social Studies teacher Margie Dennie said. “Focusing in on the United Nations and what they attempt to do in keeping peace and making sure that human rights are observed world-wide…. this would be an excellent opportunity for students to be involved [in that].”

As the number of interested students continues to grow, and members await the date of their next conference, Model UN hopes to foster an ability to identify, craft and understand the positions of others and themselves amongst the student body in an international venue.