By Megha Poddar ’15, News Staff Writer

Some people are interested by the environment; others enjoy the arts; some even love knitting. Whatever it is, there is probably a club for you at Newark Academy. In Model United Nations and Model Congress, Newark Academy students fulfill their interests in foreign and domestic policy, respectively. But, what exactly do these clubs do?

In the Model United Nations club, students prepare position papers to present at nation wide conferences in their appointed committees. This past November, Model UN traveled to Rutgers for the Rutgers University Model United Nations conference for four days. The conferences are intended to be realistic simulations of the actual United Nations by challenging students to learn and discuss world issues. At RUMUN, Newark Academy represented Egypt and Sudan. Students generally spend most of their time at the conference in committee meetings where they debate, discuss, and formulate resolutions for key issues. Mr. Vinikoor, a faculty advisor for Model UN, explained, “the club is really social; for the four days of the conference, you are intensively engaged with other students.” In addition, the constant competitive aspect of the conferences generally absorbs students in Model UN. Abraham Ratner, a sophomore member of Model UN, said that, “working to get a resolution passed is thrilling.” While Model UN students must work hard to be successful contenders at the conferences, they also enjoy the social aspect of the club such as debating and discussing.

On the other hand, in Model Congress students debate bills that have to do with domestic policy. This year the Model Congress Club will attend two conferences. At the end of November, students from Newark Academy traveled to Yale College, where they participated in a conference with thousands of students. The conferences provide students with a great opportunity to experience a simulation of the American legislative system. Overall, Ms. McNeily-Anta, the faculty advisor of Model Congresses, has found that, “students love going to the conference and debating with other kids; however, students also really enjoy just spending time talking and hanging out with each other.” In Model Congress, students not only develop crucial skills of debating and communicating through hard work, but they also meet many students from other high schools and grow a passion for American legislation.

The Model UN club came back from RUMUN with two student awards won by Jai Ghose ’14 and Ryan Nachwalter ’14, both of whom won the award for the Best Position Paper in their committees. Shivani Pandiri ’14, who has traveled to several conferences since her freshmen year, noted that, “the quality of debate was great at the conference, and the awards won were just a plus to the overall successful weekend.” Due to the highly competitive and small size of the RUMUN conference, the awards won by those students really distinguished the Newark Academy club.

In addition, the Model Congress also came back with an impressive set of awards. Out of the 36 students who traveled to Yale, 13 came back with various awards. Jake Wieseneck ’14, Craig Haratz ’14, and Theodore Steffens ’14 were named Distinguished Delegates. Vihar Desu ’15, Zach Persing ’15, Lila Rimalovski ’15, Marley Lazarus ’14, and Rebecca Antwi ’14 were recognized for their Outstanding Legislation. Also, Samanatha Altschuler ’14, Carley Stein ’13, Jake Cohen ’14, Colin Corliss ’14, and Jake Faber ’14 received an Honorable Mention. Jake Wieseneck ’14, a member of Model Congress since his freshmen year, mentioned, “we had a very young delegation going into the conference because we lost a core part of the club last year; however, under the great leadership of Sam Altschuler, Teddy Steffens, Carley Stein, and Jake Cohen, we were able to foster many new, capable delegates.” Both Model UN and Model Congress returned from their conferences with great success and many awards.

Although the conference sizes and format of Model UN and Model Congress are similar, the students are debating in front of different audiences with different purposes. In Model UN, students focus primarily on coalition building at an international level, whereas in Model Congress students practice constitutional law on a far more individual standpoint. The students in both clubs work very hard to perfect their debating skills, so by the time a conference is around the corner, they may represent themselves and Newark Academy in the best light possible. As Anna Hope Emerson ’16, a new member of Model UN puts it, “all of the hard work we put in definitely paid off, and made the debates even more enjoyable.” A majority of students look forward to the clubs and hope to continue participating during their time at Newark Academy and may even pursue it further in college.