<p>Should I start a Model UN or a debate team? I am interested in the idea of both and I have a friend who would do it with me... I like the idea of a debate team but I like the idea of going to conferences like you do with Model UN, and I want to give my full attention to whichever I do decide to start...</p>
<p>Which do you think would be more beneficial to me/the school?</p>
<p>Go for it</p>
<p>I want to start a model UN… but we already have a government club (Youth in Government) and so it probably would be an epic fail. We’ve only got 150 kids in the high school…</p>
<p>Well AUGirl Model UN encompasses not only the US but focuses on diplomacy with multiple countries. this kind of club has very different dynamics from a government club (unless the gvt club actually focuses a lot on foreign affairs or diplomacy). Even if its a few people the idea may appeal to those in the gvt club as well.</p>
<p>To the OP: Model UN is a great club (very fun meetings and outings) to start so I say go for it</p>
<p>We have a debate team, a government team, and a Model UN club. They can coexist successfully.</p>
<p>Though our school is bigger than yours so I’m not sure.</p>
<p>Why not try both?</p>
<p>Just do it. √</p>
<p>Haha, I love the taggage</p>
<p>I think I am leaning towards Model UN, just because its established already in other schools, and I can’t think of any national debate team groups (of course I could be wrong)…</p>
<p>So now…any things I should definitely make happen when starting the club? (Like stuff that wouldn’t be found on the Model UN website)</p>
<p>Um Model UN and debate are established under the same national organization. Look up the National Forensic League. And you should do both because debate season ends around January, and Model UN Season starts around February. Of course if you make it to the national debate competition you may be competing until June, but I honestly doubt you’ll make it to nationals your first year. I do both. If you do congress in debate it is really similar to Model UN, but I think its the most boring. I find public forum the most interesting. Good luck.</p>
<p>how about you start one,
and get your best friend to start the other
and then you can be vp of hers
and she can be vp of yours
and it works out perfectly because you divide the workload</p>
<p>@ Lady T…Sorry, I was not aware of them being under the same organization, like I said, my school is lacking these so I am probably one of least knowledgable people about that organization. I can’t really do them both because I have marching band this year and I’ll be field commander so I’ll have like no free time in the fall. PS. that did make my decision a lot easier so thanks :)</p>
<p>@fizix…ha, that’s actually a good idea, but I don’t think I have enough time to do both, especially because debate would conflict with band, plus I think I’d feel guilty about like trading positions, although if I did have the time, I’m not so sure I’d be above doing that lol</p>
<p>^ It doesn’t conflict as much as you think. I did debate and marching band my freshman and half of sophomore year. The hardest thing was tournament/competitions scheduled on the same day, but you can work around that easy enough in the end.</p>
<p>Our drum major this year was on the debate team, although he wasn’t the most dedicated person in the world to either thing, he did manage pretty well.</p>
<p>Model UN is undeniably boring at times, but often you’ll find once you’ve gotten ahold of a topic you actually care about (trust me, you’ll see the word “transparency” a lot and will most often be discussing on how to raise awareness.) that it’s actually really fun 
I noticed a lot of schools in america tend to have MUN conferences at local universities (I’m sure there’s a Harvard MUN, as is there a Stanford MUN) so you might want to contact some if you want to start an MUN club? You also could try to register your school with international conferences like BEIMUN and THIMUN, but I’m not sure if you can do that your first year off (I know for a fact BEIMUN and THIMUN are composed primarily of international students, but there are a few well-known public schools that have been registered.)</p>
<p>Many, many people at my school do debate AND MUN. Trust me, they rarely conflict to a point where you are at a fork in your extracurricular “path” haha</p>
<p>I think you’d still be fine with marching band. I do both, plus work 20 hours a week, am an extremely active member of student council, black student union, ussap secretary, young dems treasurer, nhs, and black student union. I make it work so can you if you really try. I rarely go to debate practices honestly. My team meets twice a week and my team has multiple national winners every year. I sometimes drop by for 20 minutes once a week. Meets are usually Saturdays. They are REALLY long. My team usually leaves at 4am and arrives at 7am. We leave around 6pm get home at 9pm. So definitely don’t make any plans on tournament days. It isn’t like other academic teams. You can go to as many or as few tournaments as you like. I was a debutante(don’t laugh) so I only competed 3 times in the regular season last year due to dance and etiquette classes, but I still went to state.</p>