Starting this school year two new clubs, the Jewish Student Union (JSU) and the Model United Nations (UN), have returned to the high school.
Sophomore Quinn Levin, who revived and runs JSU, said that they were inspired to restart JSU over the summer.
Science teacher Nikki Hoch said is the club advisor for JSU. Hoch said that JSU meets in her room every Wednesday and that her responsibility is to provide a space to meet and to provide whatever assistance the students need.
“Each week they will focus on a topic and expound upon it and then open it up for discussion and questions,” Hoch said.
Levin said that they welcome all who choose to join and hope that more people do.
Freshman Jack Elliott, co-founder of Model UN, said that their meetings will generally take place on Wednesdays in Mabi Ponce De Leon’s room, but are subject to change as they are team based.
Elliott said that each group within Model UN was provided with a country that contains a problem that the members will research in order to find a solution. They will present their proposed resolutions at the conference for Model UN, Elliott said.
“If our resolution is good, and it’s labeled an outstanding resolution, we’ll go out and present it in front of thousands of people,” Elliott said.
Freshman co-founder of Model UN, Reese Goldman, explained that Model UN plans on going to the Hilton in Columbus for the Model UN conference December 4-6. Elliott said that meetings for Model UN are used to prepare for the conference and help get teams comfortable with the format.
“We plan to learn a lot and get a lot of experience with debating and being delegates,” Goldman said.
Leader of experiential learning at Bexley City Schools and facilitator of Model UN Steve Shapiro said that in order to join Model UN, students must pay a fee.
“I would say at this point it’s more like a team than a club,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro described his role of facilitator as just being in the background.
“I’m really just supporting the students,” Shapiro said. “I’ve helped direct them to the right resources, but honestly Reese and Jack have run the show.”
Shapiro explained that the members of Model UN are an excellent demonstration of experiential learning.
“This is a really content rich learning experience and it’s going to be interesting, but these are kids who want to learn about other countries,” Shapiro said. “These are kids who want to be active and participate in their learning.”
Both clubs are new this year due to a temporary hiatus, and Levin said that JSU differs from that of what it used to look like, Levin said.
“Now it’s more student-run, student-based, and it’s more than just the holidays, because I believe there’s more than just the holidays.” Levin said.
Hoch said that in the past JSU was outsourced and run almost entirely by Jewish Columbus.
“There were different rabbis, and the big draw was pizza… they would come in, they would have a huge crowd, attempt to impart some Jewish learning, and they were off,” Hoch said. “It was clearly a big seller, students were very excited, and it had quite the following.”
Unlike JSU, Model UN remains very similar to how it used to be run before Goldman’s brother, the former leader of Model UN, graduated.
“It’s something you take along with you. It takes a long time to get comfortable with because it’s really complex,” Goldman said.
JSU was left with little interest throughout COVID-19, Levin said. There was no one who chose to run it after lockdown, so it was shut down until Levin decided to bring it back, they said.
“Education helps improve acceptance and decrease hatred, and with rising anti-Semetism rights, I want to do my part in Bexley to raise the next generation of thinkers,” Levin said. “we were very excited, and it had quite the following.”
Unlike JSU, Model UN remains very similar to how it used to be run before Goldman’s brother, the former leader of Model UN, graduated.
“It’s something you take along with you. It takes a long time to get comfortable with because it’s really complex,” Goldman said.
JSU was left with little interest throughout COVID-19, Levin said. There was no one who chose to run it after lockdown, so it was shut down until Levin decided to bring it back, they said.
“Education helps improve acceptance and decrease hatred, and with rising anti-Semetism rights, I want to do my part in Bexley to raise the next generation of thinkers,” Levin said.
JSU was left with little interest throughout COVID-19, Levin said. There was no one who chose to run it after lockdown, so it was shut down until Levin decided to bring it back, they said.
“Education helps improve acceptance and decrease hatred, and with rising anti-Semetism rights, I want to do my part in Bexley to raise the next generation of thinkers,” Levin said.
were very excited, and it had quite the following.”
Unlike JSU, Model UN remains very similar to how it used to be run before Goldman’s brother, the former leader of Model UN, graduated.
“It’s something you take along with you. It takes a long time to get comfortable with because it’s really complex,” Goldman said.
JSU was left with little interest throughout COVID-19, Levin said. There was no one who chose to run it after lockdown, so it was shut down until Levin decided to bring it back, they said.
“Education helps improve acceptance and decrease hatred, and with rising anti-Semetism rights, I want to do my part in Bexley to raise the next generation of thinkers,” Levin said.