Ballot
Ballot is a TAMS club dedicated to bringing Model UN, speech, debate, and political awareness to the TAMS community. We give students a stage to share their passions in TEDxtalks, connect science with politics at SciMUN, and work with UNT's Model International Organization (MIO) to organize the annual Model Arab League (MAL), and help students compete at competitions through our Speech and Debate teams. Our goal is to help students develop skills in logical thinking, public speaking, and civic discourse which will empower them to be informed and capable leaders of the future in any career.
| Topic(s) | MUN, Speech and Debate, Politics |
|---|---|
| Active Years | 2018 - Present |
| Advised | Yes |
| Execs | President: Yashvini Deva
Director of Competitions: Daniel Li Director of Events: Sriya Sadhu Director of Logistics: Jalini Balasubramaniam Director of Outreach: Abi Kumar |
| Event(s) | TEDxYouth @ TAMS, SciMUN |
| Link | |
| ballot.tams@gmail.com |
Events
TEDxYouth @ TAMS is a TEDxYouth event hosted at TAMS.
SciMUN is a yearly Model United Nations conference at TAMS.
Ballot regularly hosts Middle Ground GAs, in which a contentious topic is debated. Participants take a stance on the issue, and attempt to seek middle ground with the opposing side (hence the name).
Competitions
Central Texas MUN (CTMUN)
Fall 2020
The University of Texas at Austin hosted CTMUN 2020 virtually through November 6-8, 2020. The following TAMS students participated:
General Assembly Plenary
- Zhuoli Xie - France
- Amita Manjunath - Greece
UNESCO
- Saatvik Sunkavalli - Argentina (Outstanding Delegate)
The Bangladesh Awami League
- Anay Gupta - Kazi Nurruzaman
- Ted Kwee-Bintoro - William A. S. Ouderland (Outstanding Delegate)
Summer 2020
For the first time in its history, the University of Texas at Austin hosted its first virtual conference on July 21, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following TAMS students participated:
General Assembly
- Andrew Abraham - Bangladesh
- Joshua Joseph - Poland
- Sanjana Koratala - Republic of Korea
- Stephanie You - Russia
- Weikang (Patrick) Du - France
- Yifan Guo - Canada
- Zhuoli Xie - Mexico
Group of 20 (G20)
- Sriya Sadhu - Moon Jae-in2020 Papal Enclave
- Yashvini Deva - Cardinal Angelo Scola
- Ted Kwee-Bintoro - Cardinal Péter Erdő (Outstanding Delegate)
- Participated under Tompkins High School
Dallas Area MUN (DAMUN)
2021
DAMUN XI occurred virtually on January 23rd, 2021. Unfortunately, TAMS did not participate this year.
2020
DAMUN X occurred on October 14th, 2019. The following TAMS students participated:
Human Rights Council
- Braiden Aaronson - Poland, HRC
- Saatvik Sunkavalli - (Outstanding Delegate)
World Health Organisation
Crisis
- Gavin Bardwell - Andrew Card
Security Council
- Aryan Agarwal - Poland, SC
Historical Security Council
- Tian Yuan - Poland, Historical SC
Arab League
- Moksh Nirvaan and Aarti Kotha - UAE
- Apsara Mitra and Jalini Balasubramaniam - Sudan
General Assembly
- Evan Carlisle - Poland
- Abhijeet Bendapudi - UAE
- Yashvini Deva - Nicaragua
North Texas High School Model Arab League (NTHSMAL)
Citizen Bee
Committees
Shout!
Shout! is a Ballot committee dedicated to fostering political activism and participation in civic duties at TAMS. This committee aids students who wish to exercise their political rights by registering them to vote and providing transportation to the polls during national and state-wide elections. We will also be covering debates and news during elections through watch parties and this page.
| Committee Heads | Years |
|---|---|
| Temi Akinyoade | 2020-2021 |
| Mihir Khare |
Speech & Debate
We are excited to be working under Ballot this year to make speech and debate at TAMS more convenient and successful than ever before. Throughout this year, we plan to compete at tournaments (which will mainly be online the first semester due to COVID) at the local, state, and national level. While participating in speech and debate, you will learn life-long skills, such as how to research, develop logical arguments on the spot, and deliver them effectively. Because Speech and Debate includes a variety of events—from oratory, where you present and 10 minute speech about a topic of your choosing, to Public Forum, where you debate against opponents with the help of a teammate—there is a definitely an event that you will enjoy competing in, so don’t be afraid to try it out!
Speech & Debate participates in IEs, PF, LD, and more!
| Committee Heads | Years |
|---|---|
| Jennifer Yu | 2020-2021 |
| Saatvik Sunkavalli | |
| Aarti Kotha | |
| Sai Sarnala |
Other
Ballot publishes the Ballot Buzz, which is a weekly newsletter featuring student-contributed articles on politics.
Execs
2020-2021
President: Yashvini Deva
Director of Competitions: Daniel Li
Director of Events: Sriya Sadhu
Director of Logistics: Jalini Balasubramaniam
Director of Outreach: Abi Kumar
2019-2020
2018-2019
President: Cari Reinert
Competitions Coordinator: Tejas Saboo
Education Coordinator: David Yue
Speech and Debate Coordinators: Melanie Che and David Yue
Treasurer: Grace Hu