Four times a year, members of MHS club Model UN join other schools at conferences where they address world problems as delegates from specific countries.

This February, members of Model UN will head to Chicago to attend a conference hosted by the University of Chicago.

The other three conferences are local, and senior Suhass Bobba, co-president of the student-run club, said this event will be more formal and will attract schools from all over the world.

“It will be different because this one is hosted by a university versus local conferences where we put it together,” Bobba said.

At the conference, MHS will represent Tanzania, and students will participate in different committees to represent their country’s position on world issues.

“I’m on the agricultural committee,” Bobba said. “So we’re talking about the seeds that are mutated and how it affects crop production.”

Eva Johnston, teacher sponsor of Model UN, said this conference will also be “more intense” because students have to collaborate and write resolutions at the conference rather than preparing them beforehand.

To prepare, the students have been researching Tanzania and their specific committee topics.

“Part of the learning is to think of it not as a 15-year-old from chesterfield,” Johnston said, “but as someone who actually lives at a different part of the world and has a different world-view.”

Model UN members will also attend the final local conference at the end of February. Johnston said attendance at these conferences is the highest it’s ever been at around 100 students each time.

“We all have a good time,” Bobba said.