College of the Canyons’ (COC) Model United Nations team took home several team honors and individual awards at its latest conference this past weekend.
Hosted by University of California (UC), Santa Barbara, the conference included delegates from 17 four-year institutions and delegates from three community colleges.
Participants included the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Southern California (USC), UC San Diego, UC Merced, Loyola Marymount University, San Diego State University, the College of Marin, Diablo Valley College, among others.
At the end of the conference, individual awards were given to delegates who performed well in their committees. Eight of the 20 delegates from COC received these individual awards.
The conference also gave overall awards to the Best, first place, and Outstanding, second place, small and large delegations.
With 20 delegates, the COC was considered a large delegation and was named the Best Large Delegation, beating out USC which was named the Outstanding Large Delegation.
In light of COC’s recent win, Phil Gussin, COC’s Model UN teacher, said he attributed the success of the team to its student members, who work tirelessly to improve their leadership skills.
Gussin said he recruits talented individuals and tries to create an environment where they succeed by giving them guidance, pushing them and believing in them.
“We have some amazing students at College of the Canyons and it is my great honor to work with them,” he said.
COC’s Model UN Team:
- Ricky Aguilera
- Serena Beirold
- Vali Butaev
- Carlie Byrne
- Sebastian Cazares
- Jonathan Cirilli
- Amy Chon
- Sara Cole
- Anthony Hernandez-Duenez
- Ronnie Lopez
- Caleb Lunetta
- Nancy Markell
- Alex Martin
- Georges Mourad
- Nikol Nesterenko
- Sergio Partida
- John Perkins
- Olivia Smalley
- Joel Szakmeister
