"Believe in a Better World" was the theme of the 2011 Kentucky United Nations Assembly (KUNA).

On March 24, a delegation of 33 Y-Club members from Russell County High School traveled to Louisville for this assembly.

The three-day event affords students the opportunity to spend time debating global issues, while taking active roles as citizens from various nations. Delegates participate in a global village, parade of nations, debate summits, media, as well as campaigning for office. More than 1,500 students from 68 schools (representing countries from all over the world) attended this event. RCHS represented The United States, Mexico, and Cuba at this conference, with the primary focus being on The United States. "Native Attire" consisted of the President and the First Lady, along with members of the Secret Service-four other delegates wore native attire representing our other two countries.

The RCHS Delegation was rewarded for their weeks of preparation with several recognitions and awards. Tra Taylor served as President of the Security Council and Ben Lee served as Chaplain-both young men took their roles very seriously, as was evident by the reactions of students and adults alike.

In addition, Ben was presented with the "Outstanding Ambassador" award; he was also selected as one of only 25 delegates from across the state to represent Kentucky at the Conference on National Affairs (CONA) in North Carolina this summer.

RCHS delegates presented and debated proposals which directly affected the nations that they represented, as well as The United Nations as a whole. The proposal "to end all military conflicts in the Greater Middle Eastern region" (authored by Ben Lee and Brooke Wilson) received the distinction of "Outstanding Proposal," 1 of only 2 out of101 proposals to be named such . . . this in turn gave the authors the opportunity to present/debate this issue in front of the entire General Assembly on the last day of the conference.

Caleb Flanagan and Alisha Dockery distinguished themselves on the media team, as Caleb had numerous photos selected for use on the 2011 KUNA DVD, while Alisha had two articles published in the KUNA Newsletter.

Ten delegates also took part in our own rendition of the "Blues Brothers"(Jonathan Dunn and Cody Womack were Jake & Elwood, respectively, while Peyton Walters led the group of back-up performers),and the crowd of over 1500 simply just went wild, according to reports.

The RCHS Delegation finished the assembly by receiving the "Best Delegation" award: this is an award that truly took the efforts of the entire delegation to earn . . . and in the words of the KY YMCA, "Good job, good job!"

Congratulations to all the award winners, and to the entire delegation. The RCHS Y-Club would also like to thank their advisors/chaperones for their commitment to the club, and for helping make this trip such a wonderful experience.