Model United Nations’ popularity is soaring at Edina High School, and it’s quickly becoming one of the largest clubs. For the second year in a row, EHS will be hosting its very own Model UN conference. It will be held on Saturday, Jan. 10. This is a large feat for EHS as it is the first high school in Minnesota to set up a Model UN conference. Normally, conferences are held at colleges such as Macalester or the University of Chicago.

“EMUN was a huge success last year, and even topped other local conferences that are run by college students. We are excited to have almost as many non-Edina students as Edina students in attendance this year!” said Model UN captain and senior Samantha Seiler. “This is really cool because Edina always outnumbers other schools due to the team’s size, so this shows that EMUN is attracting a lot of high schools, including schools that normally only attend large national conferences.”

The topic was chosen with care by the research and writing committee. “Our topic is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. We chose this topic because even though human trafficking has been a popular issue to debate, sex trafficking remains largely under-addressed,” said captain and senior Amy Fang.

The behind-the-scenes work required to ensure the conference runs smoothly is run by advisors Ms. Nimmo and Mr. McKeever and the student committee, which is divided into four different teams: logistics, research and writing, dais, and external relations.

Senior and captain Kate Hall is leading the logistics team. “We are in charge of food, name tags, pens, notepads, placards, and anything else that each delegate needs in order to do well,” said Hall.

Seiler is in charge of the research and writing team which wrote and edited the background guide for the conference.

Amy Fang is the Under Secretary-General (the leader) of the Dais committee. “This group focuses mainly on physically running the conference—we choose delegates who wish to speak and ensure that the flow of debate is smooth,” she said.

“The external relations team focuses on publicizing and communicating to others about the conference. They also oversee photography during the preparation and day of the conference,” said Fang.

The conference will take place in Fick Auditorium, and will feature MSNBC’s Richard Lui as the keynote speaker.