Hi! My name is Liam Cook and I am 17 years old and a student at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, CA. I have been volunteering for both iACT and Darfur United for many years, being one of the leaders of the Mustangs 4 Change Club on Mira Costa’s campus. Mustangs 4 Change works alongside the student and staff population and works to communicate the goals of Darfur United and iACT with the local community, especially at Mira Costa. With Mustangs 4 Change, I have volunteered at countless events, including iACT’s One Strong Kick event, numerous bake sales, and soccer equipment drives. I absolutely love what iACT and Darfur United stand for and what they have done in the past, and I am so excited to intern with iACT over the summer!
When I’m not helping out with Mustangs 4 Change or studying for school, I am incredibly involved with the Model United Nations (MUN) program and am a leader of Mira Costa’s aquatic department. Next year, I will be the Under Secretary General (USG) for this year’s Los Angeles Invitational Model United Nations conference. As USG, I am planning to organize over 1,000 students from all around the world into 30 different committees, simulating multiple United Nations debates and discussing and attempting to solve the world’s most pressing issues, including the refugee crisis in Darfur, world hunger, the conflict in Syria, child soldiers, and many more! Model United Nations has allowed me to dive into international relations and really begin to understand the way the world works.
To further my involvement in international relations, I joined and became an intern for the Samburu Project, a nonprofit organization that works to provide fresh water to rural villages in the Samburu region of Africa, through building wells and educating African communities. I also have founded and help lead several clubs and organizations on Mira Costa’s campus, including the UNICEF club, Children of War Club, and New Channels (a club that works to provide aid to inner-city youths through ocean and beach activities); and will be the president of National Honors Society (a community outreach group of student scholars).
In addition to being a member of Mira Costa’s MUN team, you can find me in the pool either playing water polo or swimming laps. I love swimming and playing water polo and have been on the varsity swim team since freshman year, and on the varsity water polo team since I was a sophomore. As an intern at iACT, I hope to really make a difference. I am so grateful that I have had the chance to come to Sweden for the Darfur United Team Training Camp, and, now that I am here, I understand the individual impact that iACT has had on each of the players and has on an international level. I can’t wait to see what else I can do for iACT and Darfur United, and I am excited to see the changes that programs such as these can make for those forgotten by the international community.