Forty sleepy-eyed students gather in the Seminar Room at 7:30 A.M every Tuesday. Computers in hand, they are ready to conduct more research on the countries and topics they will be representing at a Model United Nations conference taking place March 4^th – 6th in New York City.

The Model UN club, which was in danger of ending this year because the former adviser to the club stepped down, was restored by AHS history teacher, David Fregly. Model UN has proven to be an important extracurricular activity for many students as it gives them the opportunity to go to conferences to learn about current world affairs, see events through different perspectives, and to gain first hand knowledge about the purpose of the UN.

“I find that Model UN is very beneficial because I have learned to defend my beliefs and I have learned more about world affairs,” senior Caroline DeRosa said.

For members of the club, the road to attending the conference in NYC is no cruise. Students first wrote an essay about a major success the UN achieved in its first two decades of existence and a major setback the UN faced in more recent times. The next assignment was for students to write an eight-page position paper about the country and topic they will be representing at the conference in NYC. At every Tuesday meeting leading up to the trip, students have been improving their arguments and researching more about their country’s policies.

“It was a lot of hard work, but I persevered and going to the conference is a really good life experience and educational experience,” sophomore Charlie Van Allen said.

At the conferences in NYC, students will be interacting with participants from around the US, defending their position papers and finding the best possible solution to issues pertaining to their country- such as ISIS in the Middle East.

“In this day and age, being aware of what’s going on globally is critical to being successful as an adult because the whole world is impacted.” Fregly said, “and if we’re ignorant of what’s going on across the ocean, then we have very little power to affect any type of positive change”.