Eleven juniors from Santa Margarita Catholic High School returned recently from the 37th annual Royal Russell Model United Nations Conference held in East Croydon, United Kingdom. The students represented Mexico and Greece in a simulated meeting of the United Nations. Students in attendance were Bailey Woinarowicz (Yorba Linda), Brendan Reeves (Aliso Viejo), Yasamin Marvasti (Coto de Caza), Jack O’Keefe (San Clemente), Monica Hamra (Yorba Linda), Matt Trueman (Coto de Caza), Claire Crafts (Dana Point), Kevin Zhang (Lake Forest), Angela Zhang (Yorba Linda), Colby Wenk (Mission Viejo) and McKenna Andrew (Coto de Caza). Students Brendan Reeves, Monica Hamra and Angela Zhang won distinguished delegate awards. In addition, the delegation of Mexico was recognized as a commendable delegation. The conference hosted students from all over the world including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Greece, France, Norway, Japan, Finland, Italy and Egypt. Santa Margarita Catholic High School was the only school from the United States in attendance. The school has been sending students to this conference for over two decades.
While at the conference, students debated economic, political and social issues facing the international community. Topics such as regulation of crypto currencies, ocean pollution and conflict in the Lake Chad Basin were among the topics discussed over the four-day conference.
In addition to attending the conference, students toured many famous sights including the Tower of London where they saw the world-famous ravens and the Crown Jewels, Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey, the British Museum and St. Paul’s Cathedral with its sweeping views of the London skyline from the top of the iconic dome. The students also visited various sights in Scotland including Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Scottish Parliament, Greyfriars Kirkyard and Greyfriars Bobby, Melrose Abbey and Roselyn Chapel.