The Tartan Model United Nations Club culminated its 2014-2015 academic year with a trip to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This was a busy year for the MUNers having attended conferences at Edison High School in October; Tustin Model UN and University of California, San Diego in November; Edison Novice in January; Surf City MUN and Laguna Hills MUN in February; and University High School’s MUN Conference in March prior to the trip. The Tartans were assigned the Kingdom of Spain for the Cornell conference and in preparation for the trip, called the Spanish Embassy in New York. The embassy was kind enough to send brochures, posters and pens for their trip. Additionally, all students were provided with Spanish lapel pins to wear on their clothing.

Following some great photo opportunities and last minute hugs, the St. Margaret’s Cornell Model United Nations delegation boarded the bus for a late night flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Elmira, New York. Arriving the next morning, with a three-hour layover in Detroit, and an hour car ride from Elmira to Ithaca, the students were tired, but very excited. Following a fabulous lunch at the local bakery, the seven delegates: seniors Ben Wang and Greg Justice; junior Megan Phansalkar; and sophomores Sydney Brinker, Tyler Genevay, Anika Grover and Makenna Mitchell – all took a three-hour nap at the hotel.

Opening ceremonies was in Bailey Hall on the campus of Cornell, where the keynote speaker was Ravi Karkara. Serving in a variety of capacities with the United Nations, Mr. Karkara has led studies, workshops, UN Programmes and efforts issues of race, gender, inequality, social justice and human rights. His remarks were insightful, challenging and extremely relevant to the issues and topics of the conference. Following his remarks, students were escorted by the Chairs of each committee.

Representing the Kingdom of Spain were:

Sophomore Tyler Genevay was in the Security Council and his topics included fighting the global food crisis and combating the spread of virus X throughout South America — and especially from Peru into Chile and Bolivia.

Over the course of the four-day conference, St. Margaret’s displayed diplomacy, public speaking skills, initiative, and a high level of energy and enthusiasm. More than 700 students from 50 different schools were in attendance at the conference, which encompassed some 19.75 hours of diplomacy. Additionally, the students were given a campus tour of Cornell.

Comments from our student’s chairs included:

• “The delegate is very well researched and uses this information to provide insightful comments and solutions in moderated caucuses.”
• “Delegate is very good speaker and has a clear voice.”
• “This delegate presented her ideas really clearly and effectively throughout all committee sessions. We were impressed with her delivery.”
• “Really good speaker!”
• “Overall this delegate performed well in committee.”
• “Good perspective of connecting to the reality of the problem, overall very passionate and energetic. We really appreciated your hard work this weekend – and don't be afraid to use the power you do have in committee to really propel your ideas forward.”
• “Thanks for your great work!”
• “Nice job using your connections with other countries to back up your points.”

All- in- all, the students were very pleased with their efforts at Cornell commenting that they truly enjoyed the trip and seeing Cornell’s wonderful campus. Most importantly, all the MUNers agreed that they learned a lot from Cornell, which will strengthen their skills even more for the 2015-2016 MUN calendar.