As Quartz Hill High School’s 2016-2017 school year begins, various new clubs have been established with high hopes of acquiring new members. Model United Nations, the Global Aid Society, and Gamer’s Guild are examples of these new, potentially successful organizations.

   Model United Nations, or M.U.N., is a brand new club at Quartz Hill. The idea of the club is to simulate the United Nations’ conferences in order to learn about global issues and find resolutions for them.

   Samuel Kim, the president of M.U.N., said, “Model United Nations is a globally recognized club that is known for creating an educational competition and simulation of the United Nations.”

   Many can learn new skills in the organization; as Kim states, “Through this club, students will develop diplomatic skills, learn about the world, and improve their knowledge of politics. Students will become better speakers, improve their debating skills, and become more confident and outgoing as well.”

   Students go to conferences usually hosted by high schools and colleges. Before such a meeting, students are assigned a country and a topic. They must research their country’s position and discuss a topic with other delegates at the conference. They prepare by debating and replicating actual meetings.

   Kim was not alone in his pursuit to start Model United Nations. He states, “The fun and skills developed during M.U.N. in middle school prompted me to start this club with the help and arrangement of friends and teachers.”

   The Model United Nations Club meets every Friday after school for thirty minutes in room V15.

   In addition to the new clubs at Quartz Hill High School, the Global Aid Society is another promising association.

   G.A.S. is a new club with a purpose to help the world. It wants to convey the message that high school students can make a difference throughout the world and locally.

   The president and founder of the Global Aid Society, Sophie Mbela, stated: “G.A.S. is all about helping people and animals around the world. We want to educate the students of Quartz Hill High School that there are many problems around the world, some that we are not even aware about. G.A.S. wants to be the voice for these international problems and help them in the process. We plan to pick a topic to focus on every month and find nonprofit organizations for that problem. Then we will do activities to raise awareness and donations for those organizations.”

   Mbela started this club with her goal to maintain focus on nonprofit organizations. She noticed that there were not many clubs that directed their attention to those associations. She wanted to have a club that could “focus on a wide variety of issues that face the world.”

   Sophie Mbela emphasized that she is going to take action and do things for the Global Aid Society. She plans to raise money for organizations that relate to the topic she is dealing with, and she wants to spread awareness through fundraisers and fun activities. In order to make G.A.S. a more globally-accepted club, she hopes to gain sponsorships from those associations.

   The Global Aid Society’s first meeting will be held after school on Wednesday, September 14.

   The Gamer’s Guild is one of the many clubs at Quartz Hill High School that has proved itself to be diverse, enjoyable, and accepting of all students who join. The club promotes eSports (also known as electronic sports or competitive gaming), a term for organized video game competitions, especially between professionals. The most common video game genres associated with electronic sports are real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter, and multiplayer online battle arena. Any high school students who want to play games on a higher level should join. Gamer’s Guild meets Fridays, after school in room 105.

   The club strives towards providing high schoolers with a fun, competitive, and rewarding eSports experience, similar to traditional high school sports. The vice-president is Gabriel Ramirez, and the mission of the Gamer’s Guild is to promote eSports as a positive experience so it can one day be considered as legitimate as traditional sports like football or basketball. Gabe believes in the club members and stated proudly, “Even the most casual gamers can become the best. Whether or not you do is a matter of choice.”

   The club promotes that good sportsmanship and manners are just as important on the internet as they are in real life. Often during online gameplay, tempers flare, immaturity is prevalent, and disrespectful language runs rampant. The administrators work closely with teams to ensure that the club remains clean and mature. They have a set of rules to keep the environment academic as well as fun. Likewise, they enforce their rules and keep constant watch over their teams to ensure that cheating and dishonesty are quickly addressed.

   Although the Gamer’s Guild consists of mostly high school students, they are individuals who have come to work together due to a common goal to progress their skills in playing video games. If you play any games on a standard or higher level, come to the Gamer’s Guild and join any of their promoted teams or even play your own games. The staff at the GG club work hard to provide the best possible experience for their participants.

   Joining clubs always opens a great opportunity to meet new people and learn new things. Model United Nations, the Global Aid Society, and Gamers’ Guild are all clubs that grant members a chance to increase their knowledge and connect with the world on a new level.