The BHS Model United Nations (MUN) club is one of the most successful in the area, making it a popular extracurricular for BHS students. 

The team competed at the Cleveland Council on World Affairs (CCWA) Conference at Case Western Reserve University on Nov. 6 and 7. Beachwood has been dominating the CCWA conference for a number of years. 

“They did awesome… unbelievable,” social studies teacher and MUN adviser Dominic Velotta said. “Actually, they exceeded expectations because I think we won more awards than we did last spring.”

“We took in 19 awards,” he added. “One kid won two awards, but out of 25 Kids, 18 Kids won awards.”

The most prestigious of these awards, the Gavel Award, was awarded to BHS students Arpith Prasad, Cordelia Ames, Lyndia Zheng and Amy Zhou. 

Additionally, Mirica Woodley, Radha Pareek, Eliana Worku and Harlan Flake won Superior Delegation. 

“There were some other big schools [at the CCWA conference]…but I would say we’re probably one of the top, if not the top school in Northeast Ohio,” Velotta said.

At the conference, the team discussed topics such as international peace, combating terrorism, the loss of biodiversity in oceans, space security and the effects of AI. 

What makes MUN so significant is that these are the topics that real members of United Nations  committees negotiate, prompting more social awareness among high school students to key issues in our world.

Beachwood has been the dominant local Model UN team for many years now. 

“We’ve got a really good team,” Velotta said. “We’ve had a good team for the last five or six years.” 

Velotta attributes the team’s success in part to the strength of the middle school team.

“Our middle school team has become good, and so when those kids come up to the high school, they already know what Model UN is all about,” he said.

“The kids are great, our numbers are up,” Velotta said. “We were in the 20s last year, now we’re in the mid 30s.”

Executive Board Member Probir Mukherjee explained that MUN participants are each assigned a topic and a country, and they have to research the position of the country and prepare to argue it.

“During practices, we set it up like conferences,” he said. “Exec board members are at the podium, and we direct the flow of debate. We’ll have people come up and represent their country.”

Mukherjee explained that the goal for each practice session is to write a resolution addressing the assigned issue.

He also explained the broader goals of the activity. 

“ [MUN] develop[s] students into more informed and invested public speakers with a greater understanding of society, the world and key issues,” he said.

Participants of MUN have opportunities that are not like any other club. Last January, the club went to New York City to participate in a MUN General Assembly Conference at Columbia University.

“It was a lot of fun to go as a team… It’s a really unique experience,” Mukherjee said. “You don’t get that kind of experience from most clubs, going to a huge city like New York and to bond and to explore the city together is really cool.”

The club attends two out-of-state competitions every year (one in the winter and one in the spring). This year they are slated to attend a conference at Michigan State University and Yale University.

“I’m excited to go to Yale,” Velotta said. “And then we’re going back to Michigan State in the spring. We won that conference last year, so we’re expecting to have a similar type of performance.”

Both Mukherjee and sophomore member Lyndia Zheng agree that participation in MUN can boost one’s confidence, but it also takes commitment.

“The most important thing if you’re interested in joining Model UN is to come to it with an open mind and to remember that everybody starts [inexperienced],” Mukherjee said.

“100% it takes commitment,” Zheng said. “If you want a shot at going to those out-of-state competitions, attendance at practices is really important. I would also say that being confident in yourself and self-advocacy are a very big part of Model UN.”

Mukherjee feels that MUN helped him and others in the class of 2024 to overcome the isolation of COVID.

“[For my class, it was hard to] come out of our shells and branch out and do the best we [could] at the conferences, because our freshman year was pretty tough [due to COVID and online school],” he said. “But then as I progressed through high school, I kind of started to get the hang of it a little bit better.”

“I was able to overcome that initial [state of] staying reserved,” he added. “By my junior year, I was able to do pretty well at conferences.”

Mukherjee particularly enjoys the discussions in MUN club meetings.

“My favorite part is getting to hear everyone talk and getting to facilitate the discussion,” he said. “You see people branch out in new ways and come up with ideas that you didn’t think of, and that can take the debate in a whole new direction.” 

Zheng and Mukherjee both say that MUN offers unique opportunities.

“People should join MUN because it opens your eyes to a completely new perspective  on things that you would never talk about in school,” Mukherjee said. “You talk about world issues and controversial topics, you learn about things like the territorial division between countries. Things that you normally wouldn’t think about, you think about on a world scale.”

“You also get to network a little bit with the people that you meet. I’ve made a lot of friends through Model UN who have also introduced me to different volunteer or internship opportunities,” Zheng said. “You learn a lot about international relations, how to speak well, and you really do grow your competence, advocacy, speaking skills and ability to socialize with people you’ve never met before.”

Mukherjee says that new members of MUN are welcome at practices in the BHS Library from 7 to 8:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays.