He’s ‘Aase-d’ this course

Andrew Edwards

In high school, some of Lynn Aase’s students pretended to represent

foreign countries. Now, some of them live there.

“Of all the teachers I ever had, by far, he had the greatest

impact on my life,” said former student John Thomason, now a

businessman living in France.

For 33 years, Aase has taught history at Huntington Beach High

School. He founded the Oilers’ Model United Nations program, which

alumni describe as one of the key sources of their professional and

academic successes. Aase’s students include a bevy of attorneys,

business executives and the United States’ Consul-General in

Montenegro.

A throng of former students and colleagues celebrated Aase’s

career Friday in the Grand Ballroom at the Hilton Waterfront Beach

Resort. The room was decorated in a United Nations theme, U.N. flags

and blue and white balloons adorned the room, guests’ tables were

marked with the names of different countries.

The program is an honors level class that requires students to

conduct extensive research on international relations and the policy

positions of countries around the world. Schools regularly go head to

head in competitions that simulate the international body’s

proceedings, where they are judged on how well the students portray

the country they are representing.

For example, students in the program may find themselves experts

on Cambodian trade policy or Argentina’s position on land mines.

Competitions are usually held at universities, and Aase’s students

have competed at UC Berkeley and Harvard University, and have

traveled as far as Bath, England and Berlin, Germany.

Hoyt Yee, a member of the class of 1979, gained experience in the

program that helped to fuel his journey to Podgirica, Montenegro.

“It planted a seed of doing something in international relations,

something in public service,” Yee said.

Prior to his appointment as Consul-General, Yee served under

Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as a member of the

National Security Council.

Aase joined the Oilers’ teaching staff in 1971 after beginning his

career in Brea in 1963. He initiated the Model United Nations program

in 1972 after attending a Model United Nations conference at Cal

State Fullerton. His students got a taste of serious competition at a

Harvard conference in 1973. They finished without winning a single

award but rebounded with a triumph at Harvard in 1977 and again in

1979 and throughout the 1980s.

“I guess the 1970s were the golden years in a kind of sense

because we were stepping into unknown territory,” Aase said.

Throughout his career, Aase demanded the best out of his students,

who spent many of their weekends not at the beach but in a sea of

policy literature at the UCLA library. A favorite saying of Aase,

repeated by several alumni at the party was “only losers like to

lose.”

“We want those kids walking out of those conferences knowing that

they’re the best,” Aase said.

Aase plans an active retirement, teaching a film appreciation

class at Huntington Beach Adult School and continuing to travel,

possibly journeying to Asia in the fall.

The Model United Nations classes will go on. Aase said more than

300 students are expected to join next school year. Teachers Bill

Seckington and Jill Hardy, who is also a Huntington Beach city

councilwoman, will lead in Aase’s absence.