For the second consecutive year, Riverside City College’s Model UN team was named Outstanding Delegation at the 2018 National Model United Nations Conference in the United Nations in New York City, March 25-29.
Over 5,000 college/university students convene on New York City each year to discuss current global issues. Delegates are tasked to solve pressing issues relevant to UN committees. The purpose of the conference is to advance the understanding of the UN and of contemporary international issues that have positively impacted the lives of numerous delegates. This year, RCC was tasked with representing Ukraine.
In addition to winning the best delegation, which is the highest team award at the conference, RCC had five teams win recognition for their position papers — General Assembly 1: Rachel Lennox and Luis Macias; General Assembly 5: Amy Maciel and Geby Rawung; UNESCO: Himadri Ratnayakeand Yara Bojorquez; OPCW: Gamaliel Perez and Carlos Robledo; and UNEA: Tori Cox.
Ratnayake and Bojorquez were named outstanding delegates at the conference, keeping the team’s streak alive of at least one individual being named an outstanding delegate. The streak is now at five conferences. Another student, Jasmine Brown, was selected by the conference as the chair of a very prestigious committee at the conference.
This year’s team was the College’s most diverse team with members having been born in Mexico, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India; Korea, and in the United States. Ten of the 15 students were female.
“Our team was the most diverse and one of the youngest teams in the conference,” Dariush Haghighat, professor, Political Science and Model UN advisor said, “which makes this achievement incredibly sweet and impressive. As their faculty advisor, I could not be any prouder of these extremely dedicated and talented students.”