For 29 years, Santa Margarita Catholic High School has hosted the student-run South Orange County Model United Nations Conference, the largest one-day MUN conference in the world. This year’s student organizers, Catherine Wong ’22 and Chloe Vautrin ’22, readily adapted to the challenges of hosting such a large conference in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Working alongside the school’s Director of Educational Technology Scott Bricker and MUN Director and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert John Remmell, the students put together a plan to host the event virtually through the Microsoft Teams platform.
While the conference typically draws local participants, holding the event virtually provided students from as far away as Indonesia, the Czech Republic, and India the opportunity to attend. Over 1,000 students from 30 different schools attended.
SOCOMUN allows high school students to learn about the Model United Nations Program, which simulates the workings of the United Nations. The theme of the conference is “Learning from the Past, Leading the Future.”
SCHOOLS ATTENDING:
JSERRA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
Mater Dei High School
Gahr High School
Los Alamitos High School
Laguna Hills High School
OC Club MUN
Tustin High School
Capistrano Valley High School
Ventura High School
Marymount HS, Los Angeles
Martin Luther King High School
RSM Intermediate School
MUN Mentors
Noble and Greenough School (Massachusetts)
University High School
Palos Verdes Peninsula High School
Laguna Beach High School
Brawijaya University (Indonesia)
Etiwanda High School
Atascadero High
St. Mary’s School
California High School
San Juan Hills High School
Gymnázium Jana Nerudy (Jan Neruda High School – Czech Republic)
Saint Bernard High School
Sage Hill School
Santa Margarita Catholic High School
Ocean View High School
Edison High School
Huntington Beach High School
Sunbeam Bhagwanpur (India)