Model UN

   A Model United Nations (UN) club was started at Nixa High School (NHS), a club set up to have “mock-style” UN meetings. Students research real-world issues and debate them outside of school, ultimately going to a competition at the end of the school year. 

    “We are about simulating the United Nations,” Junior Hanna Egley said. “So, essentially, we are delegates of our countries, and we pose resolutions and bills about different things in that environment. We’re trying to solve issues that the world struggles with. We don’t just do formal debates. It’s like the UN, so we do stuff that they do, but we also play games and just talk about real-world issues.”

   Egley runs Model UN almost completely by herself, with help from English teacher Kimberly Goodyear, who sponsors the club. 

   “I do my best just to kind of help promote it,” Goodyear said. “That could be me getting flyers, [or] just being available. If she ever needs anything…she can just reach out to me and we can go from there.”

    The club has morning meetings on Wednesdays at 7 a.m. and afternoon meetings on Mondays after school ends. They have an Instagram page for students to follow at “nixamodelun.”

   “They come in, we discuss real-world issues,” Goodyear said. “They decide, as this mock UN or model UN, on just different issues that they want to take and really discuss further. They also have to do research outside of the club, and so they’re really getting this firsthand experience by not only researching, but then also having to talk about this within the club.

   Model UN is open to any students who would be interested; it’s not too late to join. 

   “Just attend a meeting,” Egley said. “It isn’t this thing where you need to join us, at the beginning of the school year. So just attend a meeting and I will get you caught up.”

Philosophy Club

   This is the first year Philosophy Club is officially open for students to join. This club holds space before or after school for students to have debates on serious things in a safe space while being respectful. 

   “I think right now in America and other countries as well, there’s just so much disagreement among people and they aren’t willing to sit down and engage with other perspectives,” senior Zane Novinger said. “So I wanted to create a club that taught people how to disagree and taught people about how to logically come to a point and to change their perspectives, and to build it on reason.”

   America Literature teacher Shane Lawless sponsors the club after letting his classroom be borrowed for discussions in the past. 

   “[Ronald Lowery], Zane [Novinger] and some of their friends would ask if they could come to my star and have philosophical debates, discussions, and I would just give them a space to do that, and sometimes I would participate or ask them questions, try to kind of push them.”

   Novinger runs the philosophy club as a student leader, with Lawless supporting him every step of the way.

   “With Zane … I kind of just told him, I want to support you in any way possible, because when you’re starting this club as a senior you’re only going to get that club for that one year. So, in my mind, I wanted the club to be what Zane wanted as much as possible.”

   They meet on Wednesday after school, starting at 2:40 p.m., or Friday before school at 7:05 a.m.. An Instagram page has been started where they post updates on meetings. Follow them at “nixaphilosophy.”

   “If you can think and you have opinions and beliefs and you are willing to discuss and engage with one different than your own, then you can [join]. There’s no barrier to entry where you have to know certain vocabulary or anything like that,” Novinger said. “If you’re at all interested, show up, and if you don’t like it, then you don’t have to show up again. We’re very laid back on how we do meetings. It’s just like, whenever people have the time to come, they can, and if they don’t have time and they don’t have to.”

Film Club

  Film Club used to be present at the Nixa High School a couple of years ago and has recently started up again with a past member now the sponsor. 

   “We talk about the elements of filmmaking, and then after every meeting students have two weeks to practice, in their own way, the skill that we talked about,” English teacher Jon Spence said. “So, for example, a couple weeks ago, we talked about coming up with log lines, which are like the basic idea of a story and then a summary in one sentence. So it’s kind of like a learning and then workshop opportunity every other week with different elements in filmmaking.“

   Film club meets every other Thursday in room 248, starting at 2:40. 

   “I really give students a lot of autonomy,” Spence said. “If it’s their idea, then they’re the ones with the passion for it, and also the more probably more knowledge of it. But I provide the support that they need to do well as leaders and give that infrastructure for things like communication and the technical side of things, and then I facilitate discussions where I need to, but everything else is [Sophomore Lucy Fleetwood].”

   Fleetwood came up with the idea for the club after talking to other students and learning that they would be interested. 

   “We learn about the technical and artistic aspects of film by watching films, watching videos about behind the scenes, doing activities of comparing different types of media and creating our own creative content,” Fleetwood said. “My favorite part is that everyone cares and wants to be there. If you also love film they should join.”

Act ll

   Act ll is a leadership club focused on the arts. Within the theater community and other extracurricular activities, a lot of competition can happen between students. Act ll was started to help diffuse it and bring light to the real reason students are in the arts. 

   “Act ll is a leadership club for the ones who want to show up,”  theater department head Allison Fleetwood said. “It’s mostly creative types that are showing up here. Sometimes in the world of art, there’s a level of competition … that shows up and that’s not what we’re here to do. We’re here to create art and to have a shared experience with the departments and to live our [theater] mission [statement], which is to inspire a love of humanity through creative growth and artistic experience, and sometimes that gets a little bit lost. We’re worried about the roles, the pieces, the readers’ [theater] competition, the one-act competition. You really want to break it down to how are we growing as people through the arts.“

   Fleetwood runs and sponsors the club, held every Friday starting at 6:30 in room A133 before school. They have guest speakers from different professions speaking on how students can step up as leaders.

   “They give you a lesson, like, keep drama out of drama or, giving people green light and just ways that you can help other people succeed in the theater department, other than just yourselves,” freshman Kiera Fletcher said. 

   Act ll is for all students who want to join; they don’t need to be a part of band, theater, or choir. 

   “I came up with the idea for a leadership group, and Judah Anderson came up with the name Act ll. I had seen some athletic groups do some leadership training, and I know the [NHS] band was also wanting to do some more leadership stuff. I saw that and thought, you know, we could really benefit from that.”