Alex Mosher

Staff Writer

The 10 to 15 member club, the United Nations Association, was first introduced to ISU in December 2018.

The United Nations Association is a non-governmental organization that exists in various countries that all share a common goal: to raise awareness in the public about the general goals of the United Nations. UNA-USA, the branch in the United States, has various campus chapters that allow students to advocate for the United Nations and engage their community.

“We envision to make this a platform where they can share their ideas related to global issues [at] the national level,” said Present Karmacharya, president of ISU’s new UNA chapter.

The ISU branch of the club, UNA-ISU, consists of five chapter leaders: president Present Karmacharya, vice president Reecha Sapkota, secretary Nisha Suwal, treasurer Aashika Baniya and public Relations representative Ritesh Yadav.

The club was formed with the help of Rituraj Yadav, an undergraduate student at ISU and co-founder of NariHub, and Amanda Eakins, the advisor for the club and Associate Director of Operations of the ISU graduate school.

The club hopes to host a case competition. Teams around the nation will compete in on-campus competitions and present their solutions on UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: Access to Clean Water and Sanitation.

“This [would] be a great opportunity for ISU students to earn national recognition while receiving [a] certificate of participation,” Karmacharya said.

The club advocates for the United Nation as an official campus chapter for UNA-USA at ISU. Members have many upcoming plans that will help make the ISU chapter successful and gain recognition at a national level.

To be apart of the UNA-ISU club, students must share a common interest of raising awareness about global issues.

“Our club will try its best to inspire students and to advocate for the global issues that they care most deeply about,” Karmacharya said. “By joining UNA-ISU, students will be getting an opportunity to be a leader.”

The ISU campus chapter will focus on campaigns for global health, adolescent girls, the environment and more.

Chapter officers meet weekly on Fridays at the PSUB by the Outdoor Center. During these meetings, they discuss their agenda and future plans for the club.

Recently, they talked about about hosting an introductory meeting, where current members will be invited and potential members can attend.

To find out more about the club, contact Amanda Eakins at ude.usinull@namaikae or Present Karmacharya at ude.usinull@serpmrak.