Board Members

Colin Morse is serving as the 2019-2020 President and Secretary-General for the GBS Model U.N. team. Colin is a senior who has been involved with Glenbrook South MUN since his freshman year. Colin’s three years of experience on the team will help him teach all members of the GBS team the qualities exceptional delegates display during conferences. Colin is especially excited to work with younger delegates to improve their speaking abilities and confidence for both their MUN careers and beyond.

Colin, along with leading the very prestigious GBSMUN board, is involved with other extracurricular activities. Colin plays soccer for Sockers FC Chicago. Colin is a member of the GBS Debate team. Colin enjoys being a co-president of the Chess team. Colin also loves to support the GBS community by tutoring at the TLC and serving as a PE leader. 

As a senior, Colin is looking forward to his last amazing year of serving the GBSMUN community. However, all good things must come to an end. Colin is looking forward to going to college where he hopes to study either economics or business. Whatever he chooses to study and do throughout his life, Colin is confident his skills learned from MUN will help him succeed.

Ainsley Gallagher: Vice President

As Vice President for GBS’s Model United Nations team, Ainsley is looking forward to her fourth year on the team. Ainsley will be a senior this year and has the goal of creating an extremely engaging and friendly team environment. Ainsley’s favorite part of MUN is the experience of stepping into other people’s shoes to see their viewpoint of the world. She believes Model U.N. has the unique ability to teach students the power of empathy and understanding not only the events occurring around them but those happening throughout the globe as well. A favorite MUN “Power Move” of Ainsley’s is to wear red on the first day of conferences as well as to motion for a “gentleman’s un-mod” in committee. From Model UN, Ainsley has learned leadership, dedication, and how to work on very little sleep.

Besides Model UN, Ainsley is also involved in the GBS debate program. This year she will serve as the program’s head of Public Relations, monitoring the team’s social media as well as organizing public debates. Ainsley is also involved with GBS’s jewelry club and Peer Group program and enjoys spending time getting to know her fellow peers. Outside of school, Ainsley has a passion for chicken nuggets and enjoys keeping a running leaderboard of the best places to get them on her phone. During the summer, you will often find her listening to a good, not too country, country song at the beach or park with her friends. Overall, Ainsley is very excited for another year of obscure crisis arcs, position paper poetry, and time with her friends. 🙂

This is Om Patel’s fourth and final year on South’s MUN team. This is his first year on the MUN Board serving as a Director of Technology alongside Elizabeth Finley. Because of the current pandemic, both Directors of Technology understand the importance of creating a website that can cater to the needs of incoming and current delegates who need to keep their diplomatic skills sharp. Alongside those responsibilities, Om has been tasked to use his graphic design expertise to give the club a professional and unified image.

Om started his MUN career as a freshman eager to hone his knowledge of international affairs and public speaking skills. He was also told there would be Star Wars committees. He has grown tremendously as a delegate because of the leadership of past years. Om hopes to nourish the same growth in new delegates and his position on the board can help him do that. Although this next year will be especially tough to maneuver through, he believes the GBSMUN team can come out on top. He cannot wait to see what new talent shows up for the next year.

Outside of Model UN, Om is a part of numerous student organizations. He is an Images editor for the Oracle, a Visual Arts editor for Calliope, and a TLC Tutor. Beyond that, he also works on the Stage Crew to build incredible sets for South’s productions. Outside of school, Om can be found playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends and working on graphic design passion projects. 

Elizabeth Finley: Technology Co-Director

Elizabeth is a senior and one of our new technology directors for the 2020-2021 Glenbrook South Model United Nations team. She has been part of the MUN team since her freshman year. Elizabeth is excited to be part of the MUN board and is looking forward to sharing her ideas to help make GBSMUN a stronger club. By working with Om Patel, Elizabeth strives to make an accessible and amazing GBSMUN website. In addition, she desires to continue to spread the feelings of inclusivity, collaboration, and positivity throughout the club in order to ensure that everybody feels welcome. She also wants to help serve as a role model for our younger delegates and lead them through the challenges of MUN.

Elizabeth is part of MUN because she enjoys learning about global affairs and meeting new people at every conference. She’s even still in contact with some former committee members from Ohio and Virginia that she met at NUMUN and NAIMUN respectively. She also appreciates being able to interact with many different GBS students that she wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Outside of MUN, Elizabeth plays basketball, works on interesting research projects, and reads many books, especially those of the comic sort. Elizabeth is also currently the secretary of History Club and the president for Glenview’s Got STEAM. Last year, she founded “Passing The Ball”, a basketball service project that collects new and gently used basketballs and donates them to underserved communities. Some of her other favorite pastimes include lipsyncing to random songs and pretending that she can sing because she really can’t. 

Emma Langas: Fundraising Co-Director

As her fourth year in Model UN and her first year on board, Emma Langas is ecstatic to be the co-fundraising chair of GBSMUN alongside Sarah Ordway. Emma joined Model UN freshmen year due to her love of history and public speaking.

To Emma, Model UN is a place where she can constantly learn. Not only is she always being educated on global issues and the workings of international relations, but she is also constantly growing her speaking and writing skills. Emma feels that at each conference she learns valuable lessons from her peers that are not only applicable to future conferences but to real-life situations as well. 

Outside of Model UN, Emma is President of Glenbrook South’s Medical Club. Emma loves medicine and hopes to one day find an occupation that combines her passion with healthcare with her interest in law and the justice system. Emma also plays acoustic guitar and sings and is part of a band called “Next Week”. Her band plays at several events a year and is considered one of Lurie’s Children’s Hospital’s in-house bands. Emma also loves to write her own music. 

Something interesting about Emma that most people do not know about her is that her grandfather invented the nail gun. Additionally, Emma was born with a genetic mutation that causes both of her thumbs to look short and wide which makes them look a little like toes. The condition is called brachydactyly. Megan Fox has this mutation, along with many descendants of European royalty. 

Sarah Ordway: Fundraising Co-Director

As a junior, Sarah Ordway is beyond excited to be a Director of Fundraising for GBSMUN’s 2020-2021 school year. She is ecstatic to get her third year of Model UN started with the rest of the team and see many more victories!

 For her second year on the team’s board, Sarah hopes that she will be able to focus her energy on keeping the team unified during changing times as well as leading the next few years of GBSMUN delegates. She is looking forward to adapting to all the challenges in this upcoming year in fundraising with fellow Director of Fundraising, Emma Langas.

 In addition to Model UN, Sarah contributes to GBS through numerous activities. She is a member of the Key Club’s board and the assistant opinions editor for the GBS newspaper, the Oracle. She also is on the Varsity Scholastic Bowl team and the Girls’ Tennis team. With the communication skills that she has developed from Model UN, she hopes to continue to have a positive impact on her community and contribute in as many places as she can.

When she’s not busy with Model UN or her other extracurriculars, you can find her reading everyone else’s board bio wishing that she had changed hers or waiting for you to ask her if she’s vegan. Sarah is excited for another year of traveling with the team and getting the chance to wait for delayed flights in airports across the country!

 Olivia DeMattia: Publicity Co-Director

Olivia DeMattia is beyond excited to join the Glenbrook South MUN board for the second year in a row. Olivia is this year’s publicity manager alongside Saanya Shah. Olivia is a senior at Glenbrook South and has been an active member of the GBS team since the start of her freshman year. From improving her social skills to gaining a deeper understanding of international issues, Model UN has already provided Olivia with a series of lifelong skills. Olivia is a firm believer that the skills developed through Model UN are skills that will be useful throughout life, which is why one of her goals for this year is to help new and returning delegates gain confidence and obtain these lifelong assets.

Outside of Model UN, Olivia involves herself with a variety of activities. Olivia has been playing soccer and varsity golf since her freshman year. She also participates in the school’s Vshow, student council, and peer mentoring board. This past summer, Olivia spent her time working for the North Suburban Special Recreation Association (NSSRA) as an aid for kids with disabilities. She also participated in Glenbrook South’s Habitat for Humanity in Battle Creek, Michigan. Here she spent her time renovating homes, building wheelchair ramps, and giving back to the Battle Creek community. Olivia looks forward to incorporating her summer experiences into MUN this year!

Olivia is thrilled for her last year of GBS Model UN; however, although bittersweet, she looks forward to her future beyond high school. As a senior, Olivia is exploring her college options. Although she does not have her heart set on a specific school, Olivia hopes to pursue a study in broadcasting/communications, disability law, or sports marketing. Olivia knows that the skills developed through MUN will help her with her future, which is why she can’t wait to help new members obtain these lifelong tools!

 Saanya Shah: Publicity Co-Director

In her Junior year at GBS and third year on the team, Saanya is super excited to be serving as Publicity Chair for GBSMUN along with her co, Olivia Demattia! Even though it’s hard to know what the upcoming school year will look like, Saanya hopes to work with her peers to continue to keep GBSMUN the strong and spirited community that it’s always been by recruiting new members and staying active on Instagram with fun challenges and videos. 

At the beginning of her freshman year, Saanya joined Model UN because she had heard good things about it and wanted to learn more about global affairs. However, after a few conferences, she came to realize that it was so much more than that. To Saanya, MUN is a way for her to grow as a leader, a learner, and a listener, and those are skills she knows she’ll carry with her for the rest of her life. 

Outside of Model UN, Saanya also runs sprints on Track & Field, plays tennis in the fall, and is an active member of Key Club and Student Council. She dedicates most of her free time to working with UNICEF, and she started her own UNICEF USA club chapter at GBS her sophomore year.

One thing Saanya couldn’t live without is traveling. She loves sightseeing, learning about ancient history, and also relaxing on the beach with her family. This past winter break she traveled with her family to Southeast Asia, where she got to eat at the world’s most famous Soup Dumpling restaurant in Thailand, swim with stingrays in the Maldives, and visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Overall, Saanya is beyond excited to start her first year on MUN board, and she can’t wait to see where it takes her!

Elena Pauker: Co-Speaking Coach

Senior Elena Pauker is beyond excited to enjoy her last year of Model UN. This will be her third year on board, and this year she will serve as a speaking coach. As a senior, she is looking forward to guiding and supporting new delegates in learning the “ins and outs” of Model UN.

Model UN has been a highlight of Elena’s high school experience. She has grown to be a confident, concise, and engaging speaker. She joined the team as a freshman and has loved every moment. Elena enjoys crisis committees because they challenge her to think of creative solutions and foster meaningful relationships with other delegates. Her favorite committee was Truman’s Cabinet at Stanford University. This cabinet took place in 1944, where the committee goal was to strategize how to put an end to World War II.

Besides Model UN, Elena is a level 10 gymnast, captain of the Glenbrook South gymnastics team, and the president of jewelry club. Gymnastics has taught Elena to push herself both physically and mentally in order to achieve her goals. This mental toughness is applicable to her vigorous academic classes as well as Model UN. Elena’s favorite gymnastics event is the uneven bars. Despite getting constant blisters and having bleeding hands, she loves this event because she feels free and loves the feeling of flying.

Besides gymnastics and Model UN, Elena is an avid fan of country music. One of her favorite country bands is “Alabama” because all of their music represents the hard work and perseverance that Americans embrace. Elena can often be found outside whether she is rollerblading through her neighborhood or swimming at the beach.

 Sophia Kendall: Co-Speaking Coach

Sophia Kendall acts as a speaking coach for the GBSMUN team and is ecstatic to extend her knowledge of public speaking to her team members this year. She has been extremely interested in performance arts her whole life which has pushed her to become a motivated speaker in Model UN. Sophia plans on making public speaking both easier and more fun for all members with games and activities tailored to each individual delegate’s strengths and weaknesses. She fell in love with Model UN after realizing it allowed her to express her many opinions and deliver them to large groups of people, seeing new faces at every conference and reconnecting with the old. In the future, she may even want to consider going into politics or international relations. 

Outside of Model UN, Sophia is part of the Varsity Poms team, choir, her own club, WE Club, Key Club, the musical, and the Variety Show. Each of these activities pushes her to be put in challenging situations and work hard, translating to her Model UN career. 

In her limited free time, she enjoys baking and cooking for others and hanging out with her friends at the beach. She loves traveling the world with her family, even going to Iceland’s glaciers last summer and almost falling into the water on an off-road hike! She also was an Under-Secretary-General of Outreach for the new Global Leaders Online Model UN this summer. Moving forward, Sophia cannot wait to spend the year with the GBSMUN team and help newer delegates learn how to deal with the persistent challenges Model UN faces us all with.

Noah Walch: Co-Writing and Research Coach

Noah is one of GBSMUN’s two Writing and Research Directors for the 2020-’21 school year, and is a senior at Glenbrook South in his fourth year with Model UN. He looks forward to spending this year by helping each member of the GBSMUN team to find what they love about MUN (and hopes that, for most of them, it’s writing and research). Alongside Vikram Kaul, Noah plans to train GBS delegates to enter their committee with their minds full of research, and to pen quality resolutions, directives, and crisis notes as the committee continues. He will also strive to ensure the highest quality of GBSMUN VII background guides to enhance the conference experience for all delegates. Apart from the writing aspect, Noah appreciates Model UN for not only creating a community of deep thinkers who come from varying walks of life, but who are united by a desire to learn.

Besides Model UN, Noah’s involvement at GBS includes swimming in the winter, serving on the board for Amnesty International, and writing as a columnist for the school newspaper, the Oracle. He is also a senior class vice president. When school is not in session, he lifeguards at Glen View Club, which, despite its name, is in the Village of Golf. When he is not working, Noah can probably be spotted subtweeting his fellow board members, researching obscure medieval Korean wars, or fervently arguing that Parks and Recreation is better than The Office.

Vikram Kaul: Co-Writing and Research Coach

In his fourth and final year on the Model UN team, Vikram Kaul is ecstatic to serve as a Director of Writing and Research for GBSMUN’s 2020-2021 school year. Working with Noah Walch, Vikram is determined to ensure that all GBSMUN delegates understand both the importance and the ins and outs of the writing and research process. Additionally, he will play a large role in GBSMUN VII, helping to make certain that all background guides are accurate and thorough. He is extremely excited to see the progression among delegates throughout the year and knows that he will have done a great job if he can get people to stop writing their position papers the Friday night before a conference. Vikram enjoys MUN because it allows him to simulate the real world, and sometimes fantastical events, and rewards aspects such as creativity and collaboration which are often overlooked in society.

Apart from MUN, Vikram is a captain of the Varsity Academic Bowl team, a member of Interact Club, and a tutor in the Titan Learning Center. He is passionate about math and history and hopes to pursue a career in one of those fields. Outside of school, Vikram can be found biking or cheering on the Bulls and the Bears (yes, he has had to deal with a lot of pain and misfortune over the years). When doing neither of those things, he is most likely talking to his parrot, a sun conure named Luigi.

Hugh Toomey: Co-Crisis Coach

In his senior year at GBS and his third year in MUN, Hugh Toomey is one of our crisis directors this year and he is super excited to teach newcomers and veterans everything he knows about MUN.

Hugh started MUN in his sophomore year to improve his public speaking and be more efficient at sharing ideas. Besides wishing he had joined as a freshman, Hugh has only ever been grateful for MUN and what it has taught him. He has become way more confident through MUN and wants the same for everyone else. As a crisis director, Hugh wants to teach delegates how to be creative and strong problem solvers in committee. This year, Hugh is looking forward to watching kids grow as MUN delegates from our first conference in the fall to our last conference in the spring. 

Outside of MUN, Hugh likes a wide variety of activities. He plays tennis, participates in our school’s large production, and enjoys Olympic weight lifting. Generally, Hugh loves to do anything outside. In school, Hugh likes math and seeing how it plays out in the real world. Hugh hopes that the skills he’s built through MUN will help him down the road when he is trying to present his ideas or findings for a career. 

Over quarantine, Hugh has been looking for ways to better himself like reading and exercise. His favorite activity has been skateboarding and trying tricks. Maybe if we’re lucky he’ll bring his skateboard to one of our meetings.

Will Olsen: Co-Crisis Coach

Will Olsen is overjoyed to be one of the Crisis Directors for GBSMUN VII. Working alongside Hugh Toomey, he hopes to make each and every crisis one to remember. He is a senior at Glenbrook South High School and this is his third year in Model UN and his first year on GBSMUN board.

Model UN has proven to test Will’s speaking, writing, and creativity as he has progressed. He loves pushing his own limits and boundaries with each committee he’s in and each crisis note he writes. Model UN is the special place where Will gets to simultaneously learn more about history and current events while flexing his own creative muscles at the same time. He’s had the pleasure of participating in many historical war crises, which are his favorite committees to participate in.

Outside of Model UN, Will has many other passions. He is the President of SAFE club, a body positivity club at Glenbrook South. SAFE has not only helped Will personally become a happier person, but has allowed Will to spread his positivity to others that may need it.

Beyond SAFE and Model UN, Will also has a budding interest in film and television. His IMDb watchlist is already flooded, but he’s welcome to more suggestions anytime. His favorite show is Survivor (of which he’s seen all 40 seasons and he’s been watching live for a decade), and he seems to change his favorite movie daily, but today he’s feeling The Usual Suspects.