Student Team Wins British Competition

A delegation from Tustin High School’s Model United Nations Team has won top honors at its first international competition in Bath, England.

The team competed against 400 other students from 24 English and Irish schools recently.

At the competition, teams acted as delegates for a certain country, debated relevant topics and engaged in problem solving. Issues included civil war in Zaire, refugees in Hong Kong, drug trafficking in South America and economic development in Europe.

“They try to solve the countries’ problems, and sometimes they do it better than the adults doing the same thing,” advisor Linda Levine said.

The Tustin team represented Canada, Levine said, and was awarded the Best Delegation Award, the top prize.

“It was an incredible experience,” she said. “We competed against English prep schools that were older than our country.”

Tustin High’s delegation consisted of 11 seniors who paid for the trip themselves, Levine said. Many worked odd jobs during the summer to raise money, she said.

The students’ celebration became even more jubilant after they found out that a group of their colleagues, who had not been able to travel to England, won a similar competition in Berkeley the same day, March 8.

“It was pretty incredible: two teams, two conferences, two wins, all on the same day,” Levine said.

The students who won the international competition are: Don Anthony, Matt Ching, Paul Collins, Hanh Dao, Robert Flowers, Phil Gruber, Madeline Lee, Sarah Stockwell, Tim Thurston, Brion Vibber and David Waldram.