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Shorewood High students present Model UN and FBLA growth and competition successes to school board
Summary
Shorewood High School students told the school board Nov. 25 that Model UN now includes about 100+ students, with delegations to Carthage, Northwestern and selective slots for Harvard Model UN; FBLA leaders described rapid membership growth and national qualifiers. Students highlighted leadership, networking and scholarship opportunities.
Shorewood High School students presented their extracurricular results and experiences to the Shorewood School Board on Nov. 25, detailing growth in Model United Nations and the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter.
JD Guell, a senior and Model UN president, said the club has expanded substantially and now includes more than 100 students on its Google Classroom roster. He told the board the club took about 30 students to the Carthage College intermediate conference this month and that about 20 students are selected to attend the highly selective Harvard Model United Nations in January. "We only get 20 spots," Guell said, explaining that five positions are awarded to the executive board and the remainder are chosen by interview.
Catalina ("Kat") Perez, a junior and member of Model UN, described competing as "Russia" in a security council and said she earned second-best delegate; she added that other students won committee awards at recent conferences. Lucas Plakon, FBLA president and senior, said the FBLA chapter is in its second year and has nearly doubled membership compared with last year; he listed regional, state and national competitions the chapter attends and noted that FBLA offers diverse competitive categories beyond traditional business topics.
Why it matters: Board members and administrators said extracurriculars like Model UN and FBLA help build public-speaking, research and leadership skills and create pathways for college networking. Students noted guest speakers (including a planned Mexican consulate visitor) and partnerships that expose members to professional networks.
Logistics and commitment Students described weekly Monday lunch meetings, variable meeting lengths depending on agenda and multi-night travel required for some conferences. Guell and Plakon emphasized outreach to underclassmen, middle-school exposure to Model UN and executive-board recruitment as primary drivers of growth.
Quotes and recognition Superintendent Lornie Burgos and the board congratulated several students and staff on awards and placements; Heatherlund and other board members thanked students for their presentations.
Ending The board thanked the students for presenting and encouraged continued outreach to expand participation; the presentation concluded and the meeting moved on to other agenda items.
