MEET THE SECRETARIAT

SECRETARY GENERAL, Balakrishna Ravulapalli

Hi, delegates! My name is Balakrishna (Bala) Ravulapalli, and I am honored to serve as your 2023-2024 Texas Model UN Secretary General! This will be my fourth year participating in MUN, and as the head of the Secretariat, I am committed to developing a collaborative and change-maker culture in Model UN.

A bit about me - I am a senior at Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas, where I am the President for both Liberty and Plano’s Model UN chapters. In addition to competitive debate, I am passionate about the field of business, having competed at the national level in both Business Professionals of America and DECA. Outside of the classroom, I applied my passion for business and computer science to launch NatLang AI, an EdTech startup. In my free time, you can find me playing jazz charts on my tenor saxophone, obsessing over 85°C Cafe’s mango-peach smoothie, or getting absolutely destroyed at Valorant. In the coming year, I aim to grow the TXMUN delegation and competition experience, and I am excited to share my MUN journey with all of you!

DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL, Tejas Bhatia

Hi, everyone! My name is Tejas Bhatia and I am honored to be serving as your Texas Model United Nations Deputy Secretary General! This upcoming year will be my fourth year in this program, and I have had the opportunity to participate as a Delegate and Chair in many conferences hosted by the YMCA.

Throughout my time in Model UN, I am grateful to have considerably improved my research, public speaking, and collaboration skills, but most importantly — I am grateful to have learned from the different perspectives and debate styles that each of you brings to conferences as they allow me to improve my leadership and advocacy. I hope to utilize my experiences with Model UN to become an Attorney.

Outside of YMCA Model UN, I will be a senior at New Tech High @ Coppell during the 2023-2024 school year, and I have served in officer positions for our school MUN delegation in the past. Outside of school, I enjoy binge-watching sitcoms, swimming, reading, and hanging out with friends and family! I look forward to collaborating with my fellow secretariat members to provide the best and most memorable conference experiences for all of you!

UNDER SECRETARY OF CONFERENCE, Jiya Sharma

Hi! My name is Jiya Sharma and I will be serving as your Texas MUN Undersecretary of Conference for 2023-2024! This will be my 5th year participating in Model UN conferences, either as a delegate, chair, or secretariat member. I look forward to discussing prominent world issues with delegates and building our diverse MUN community.

To tell you more about myself, I am a sophomore at Liberty High School in Frisco. At school, you may find me performing with my school’s drill team or participating in competition events for DECA. Outside the classroom, I love involving myself in the community and am a part of both the Plano YMCA and library board. Some things I love to do for fun include watching Stranger Things and crocheting amigurumi plushies. I cannot wait to share my MUN journey with you all and I hope to contribute to your fruitful debates!

UNDER SECRETARY OF ED. AND OUTREACH, Elizabeth LeCompte

Hello everyone, my name is Elizabeth LeCompte, and I am pleased to be serving as your Undersecretary of Education and Outreach. I have attended the MUN State Conference for three years. In my freshman year Model UN sparked my great interest in international world affairs and workings. I would like to share this spark with all of the future delegates as we further grow the YMCA Model UN program.

I am from Frassati Catholic High School in Spring, Texas, where I am an avid member of the school’s debate team. Aside from debating, I am active in my school’s Fine Arts Department. I have participated in two of my school’s musicals: The Sound of Music and Little Women. I am also in the school’s award winning choir. Outside of the fine arts, I have been playing softball for five years. This is my third year in both MUN and Youth and Government. In May 2023, I visited Vancouver, Canada for the International MUN conference with the YMCA. This has given me a new perspective on how debate functions and how to approach complex issues. I am thrilled to bring back home what I learned to the YMCA MUN conference. I am excited to work with my fellow secretariat members to bring you all the most exemplary experience for the 2024 state conference!

UNDER SECRETARY OF PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE, Aashi Oswal

Hi my name is Aashi Oswal and I’m your 2023-2024 Undersecretary of Parliamentary Procedure! I’m a junior at Liberty High School and so pleased to be serving for TXMUN this year! I have been apart of MUN since 7th grade and it has inspired my passion for public advocacy and debate, gearing my interests towards international law. I believe in fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves and that shapes my actions everyday! A little bit about me, I am apart of my schools varsity debate team, and apart from MUN I partake in YG as well! I have a huge passion in dance being apart of my school’s varsity dance team, learning classical indian dance for 7+ years and teaching bollywood dance outside of school. In my free time you can find me baking as I love to bake and decorate cakes and cupcakes and even have my own baking business! I participate in community service projects in my school’s DECA chapter and was a 2023 ICDC qualifier. I am so excited to serve TXMUN this year alongside the best secretariat ever and look forward to the upcoming year!

UNDER SECRETARY OF MEDIA, Giselle Ransom

Hello, fellow delegates! My name is Giselle Ransom and I will be serving as your Texas Model UN Undersecretary of Media officer for 2022-2023! This will be my 4th year participating in Model UN. I look forward to helping improve this program, so future delegates can continue to grow and gain confidence.

I am currently a senior at Lawrence Dale Bell High School in Hurst, Texas. At school, I am an officer of my Student Council, a part of the Model UN club, and a student ambassador of my district. Last summer I participated in the NASA SEES internship working at UT Austin, under the Mars Rover Resource Utilization team. This summer I will be a part of MIT’s MOSTEC program. Outside of school, I create art using many mediums, sewing clothes, and binge-watching my favorite shows. I am so excited for another great year of Texas Model UN with inspiring delegates.

ASSOCIATE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, Lindsey Khuu

Hey everyone! My name is Lindsey Khuu and I am honored to be your 2023-2024 Associate Public Information Officer! Last year I served as your Secretary General, and I am blessed to remain here on the Secretariat and further contribute to this amazing program. For the past 4 years, this program has played an instrumental role to shape me into who I am now. I have been able to learn so much about current issues in our communities, and make new connections and friendships with people all over the state of Texas.

I will be a senior at Garland High School next year. In my free time, I love gigging around the DFW area with my jazz band, the Young Jazz Collective. I am also a delegate in Youth and Government where I have been a 3 times nationalist. I’m excited about this upcoming year in Model United Nations and look forward to making our 2032-2024 TXMUN an incredible experience!

JUNIOR UNDER SECRETARY OF MEDIA, Amir Smith

Hey everyone! For those who don’t know me, my name is Amir Smith and I’ll have the pleasure of serving as the Junior Undersecretary of Media for 2023-2024! This will be my 3rd year in MUN and I’m hoping I can improve and expand a lot about the program with my position! And I look forward to helping you guys grow even more as delegates, especially the first years! :)

I am a rising junior at International Leadership of Texas Keller-Saginaw HS, and I aspire to be a student @ Harvard College (Harvard 2029!)(ROLL Crimsons!!). At school I am president of Sustainability Council, Youth and Government, and Model UN. Outside of school I continue to grow my passion for environmental justice where I run my non-profit (p.s. follow us @thepoliticalenvironment on insta and sign up)- shameless plug-, outside of environmentalism I am a junkie for Netflix! I cant wait to see all of you guys this year!

JUNIOR UNDER SECRETARY OF ED. AND OUTREACH, Giselle Moreno

Hey ya’ll, my name is Giselle Moreno and I am honored to serve as your 2023-2024 Junior Undersecretary of Education and Outreach! I am a Junior at Duncanville High School and love being part of the MUN program! Throughout my time in Model UN, I have grown a deep passion and understanding for international relations and public policy.

I first became interested in civic engagement through the YMCA’s Youth and Government program where I compete in the mock trial section of the Judicial branch. Being involved in both MUN and YAG has allowed me to deepen my understanding of government.

To tell you more about myself, in school, I am an officer of our MUN chapter, Judicial section lead for YAG, Junior class officer, Student council committee chair, and member of our DECA chapter. Additionally, this summer, as a way to expand my knowledge of government, I interned for the U.S. House of Representatives where I had the opportunity to learn more about public policy and constituent outreach. In my free time, I enjoy reading informational books, listening to music, and traveling with friends and family. Lastly, this past May I had the opportunity to compete at internationals in Canada where I got to interact with MUN delegates from across the world. I am looking forward to another great year of MUN and can't wait to see you guys again!