Like many organizations, Iowa High School Model United Nations (IHSMUN) is looking for more members. Having dropped down to zero last fall, Konrad Sadkowski, the club faculty advisor of 12 years, is hoping to reach 20 new members this semester. “IHSMUN is an academic student club at the University of Northern Iowa, whose purpose is to engage with high school Model UN students through a UN simulation format to teach high schoolers about the importance of the United Nations and engagement with global issues,” Sadkowski explains. 

The club is open to all majors and grade levels, academic credit is granted, and there is a $500 scholarship for the secretary general (i.e., president). Being in this club is valuable in terms of personal, social and academic development. IHSMUN members will “appreciate different cultures, and explore serious issues such as the tension between Russia and Ukraine.” Meetings are generally weekly with free pizza, and one conference is held in April at UNI with another in October in Des Moines. Unfortunately, there were too few UNI students to lead the Fall conference, but Sadkowski has high hopes this spring. “The fall (conference) is devoted to high school students representing the United States, while the Spring is devoted to everyone but the U.S.” Sadkowski continues with the conference description, “UNI students choose the topics that the high school students will debate. They write brief background guides that help the high school students write position papers.” Working with the younger students can be beneficial to high school education majors by giving them the chance to interact with their future subjects, and IHSMUN can be valuable to various other majors because of the international topics. Sadkowski suggests “grabbing a friend or two and checking out the next meeting.” It is not too late to join! If interested, contact Konrad Sadkowski via email at [email protected].