The prospects of a third World War is a shuddering thought for many. What can be done to keep ourselves safe? Could the United States and other countries survive such a catastrophe? What would the aftermath look like? While our brains race to search for these answers, the next generation of leaders at Samohi is way ahead of us on the hypotheticals.
From a post-World War III landscape to the debates that defined world history, the creative thinkers of Samohi’s Model United Nations club have put their minds through their paces, speaking out at a recent conference to great success. At the Marymount Model United Nations competition on March 3, the Samohi club came home with several honors in individual diplomacy.
Under the direction of Samohi AP World History teacher and club advisor Heather Knight, the next generation of leaders took part in the Marymount event, with club president Bibi Peterson and club vice president Sienna Shah taking home Best Delegate and Outstanding Delegate, respectively. Club member Kara Best also earned a commendation from the event’s judges. Peterson, who Best credited for helping the club navigate conference proceedings coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, represented the country of India in the post-World War III scenario laid out at Marymount’s general assembly.
“There [was] a lot of room for creativity and kind of adjusting your perception of different nations, which is really cool,” Peterson said. “And being India was really interesting, because in that circumstance, they had been really strongly affected by nuclear war. So I was just having a really fun time … [finding] creative solutions and working with other nations.”
While she was just starting to teach at Samohi, Knight let the Model UN students use her room for meetings, quickly figuring out that this club was more than just an excuse for students to hang out and eat lunch together. During the 30-minute lunch periods, club members research background information for their “position papers,” formulating what their represented nation would feel about a certain topic. These papers are written before a conference, and during the conferences, students are graded on these papers along with their performance within student committees, whether it be a general assembly or a “crisis committee” based on high-profile historical scenarios.
Knight’s classroom has served as a home base for the club post-pandemic, when her and Peterson’s leadership guided the students back into attending conferences.
“Realizing it was a little more of an undertaking, and that they wanted to get back in [to] going out to conferences and things like that, I kind of just dove right in and said ‘yeah, sure, let’s figure this out together,’” Knight said.
The teacher used her world history expertise to help prep students for Marymount and other conferences, specifically for post-planned speech “negotiation” periods where Knight says “all bets are off” in terms of drafting resolutions to issues.
“[It] may not always be the most rational or realistic solution to problems, but I think at the end of the day, the heart of it is there that they really are trying to come up with realistic solutions to problems,” Knight added.
During negotiation time, the students’ public speaking skills and confidence in their positions are tested, which Knight called a “trial by fire.” Several club members add Model UN to their advocacy and public speaking repertoire, as they also take part in clubs like debate teams and environmental advocacy group Team Marine.
“That’s something we definitely try to work on, getting them to be knowledgeable, but then also confident in their knowledge and [be] able to communicate effectively,” Knight said.
Communication was key in Shah earning her award, as she played the role of a Cherokee Nation leader in support of the controversial Indian Removal Act in a historical reenactment of President Andrew Jackson’s crusade via this law. Shah noted that it was “really interesting” to try and “represent a lot of things that I did not agree with,” putting her spoken word skill to the test. Finding her voice was difficult at first, transferring to Samohi from a middle school in Marina del Rey, but her club companions helped throughout her high school journey.
“It’s really just helped me become the person that I am and just someone who’s more extroverted and wants to actually engage in conversation with people,” Shah said.
Engagement isn’t just reserved for the conference setting, as the unit is tight-knit in endeavors ranging from selling club merchandise to having their own van karaoke sessions on trips.
“Everybody’s really nice, we always have a lot of fun together as a group, and I just think that’s the glue that keeps us together, just the people and the members of the club,” Peterson said. “I would say that’s a huge reason why people are sticking with it.”
Though dealing with earth-shattering issues may not be everyone’s idea of excitement, Knight said conference trips like Marymount are thrilling for her students and a true source of pride.
“I think there’s something about it that they see the value in this for their own personal success,” Knight said. “But also, it really is about communication and problem-solving and collaboration and coming together and really trying to come up with solutions to all the endless problems this world has.”