Oilers receive distinction in New York

Coral Wilson

Huntington Beach High School seniors returned home from the Model

United Nations Conference in New York City with the highest honor --

the Distinguished Delegation Award.

“It was really good to go back, really represent Southern

California and do as well as we did,” advisor Lynn Aase said. “It was

a great way for them to go out as seniors.”

Based on last year’s success, the school was chosen to play the

role of the United States in the New York conference in March. “The

pressure was on,” said senior Heather Papini-Chapla. “We are from

California and that has a stigma attached to it.”

Her classmates agreed that the East Coast had a different culture.

Kristi Evans, 18, and Ben Buckalew, 18, said the most common question

was if they surf all the time.

“A lot of the top MUN schools are private preparatory schools that

are very old,” advisor Jill Hardy said. “Sometimes they have a

problem working with public school kids from California.”

The students have come a long way since the first conference they

attended at Harvard in 1973, Aase said. It was their initial failure

that motivated him to establish the winning program that now exists,

he said. This is the school’s third time to earn top honors.

“It is a lot like an athletic program,” Aase said. “It has to do

with pride and past performance. We want to win. Kids like to win.”

The results have been lasting, said Aase, whose students have gone

into the field as lawyers or members of the state department. For

many students, the Model United Nations conferences provided their

first exposure to jobs in the field.

“The whole program helped us to decide what we want to do in the

future,” said Aniva Hinduja, 17. “It was something I will remember

forever. We all bonded.”

The students had performed so well that by the end, Hardy said she

was confident. But the students weren’t so sure.

“You can do your best and not win anything, this is how life is,”

Papini-Chapla said.

But once the results and been announced, the students said they

were barely able to contain their excitement, knowing that their hard

work had been recognized.

“You want to dance but you still have to be polite,” she said.

“But inside you are doing the little Snoopy dance.”