Baylor’s Model Organization of American States Attends Model in Washington, D.C.

April 23, 2015
Model Organization of American States

Baylor's 2015 Model Organization of American States team.

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Media contact: Lori Fogleman, (254) 710-6275

WACO, Texas (April 23, 2015) – Ten members of Baylor’s Model Organization of American States (MOAS) traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier this month to participate in the Washington Model Organization of American States (WMOAS) hosted by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Institute for Diplomatic Dialogue in the Americas.

The purpose of the MOAS is to strengthen and accelerate the diffusion of knowledge about the OAS, the regional organization for the Western Hemisphere, and its functions among the public. It provides students with a special insight into the political, social, economic and environmental concerns of the Western Hemisphere.

“The team’s success in D.C. reflects well on Baylor as a university,” said Joan Supplee, Ph.D., MOAS coach and the Ralph L. and Bessie Mae Lynn Professor of History in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. “When we first started attending this model, most students had no idea who we were or where we came from. Now, we are the school to emulate.”

Twenty-eight teams from around the world attended the model where they debated resolutions in five committees and worked through a scenario that involved resolving the Argentine debt crisis.

Niermala Badrising, the ambassador of Suriname to the OAS and president of the Permanent Council, opened the model in the Hall of the Americas by addressing the four top priorities of the organization: support for democracy, hemispheric security, integral development and peace. The Baylor delegation also got to sit in on a meeting of the Permanent Council in which member states discussed the agendas for the upcoming Summit of the Americas and the June General Assembly meeting in Haiti.

In addition, the Baylor delegation visited the Belizean Mission to the OAS for a briefing on their country. There the students met with Kendall Belisle, the Mission’s First Secretary, and H.E. Nestor Mendez, the Belizean ambassador to the OAS and the United States. Belisle congratulated the students on their well-researched resolutions and comprehensive position paper.

During the model, all nine of the team’s resolutions were approved by the faculty board, and the majority passed in committee by acclamation. The Baylor team stood out for having the most resolutions passed in the committee.

“The students gain all kinds of life skills by attending the conference, such as public speaking, networking, parliamentary procedures and debate,” Supplee said. “They see how regional blocs operate and get a real taste of how politics on the international level work.”

The full list of students who attended the WMOAS is as follows.

Ewan Hamilton-Short - president and chair of the general committee, senior, Business Fellow

Lauren Lee - head delegate, junior, University Scholar

Joan Stanton - co-head delegate, senior, political science

Colten Stanberry - senior, history

Kelsey Shelton - junior, international studies

Aaron Fields - senior, political science

Marissa Rosario - junior, political science

May Atassi - freshman, business

Andrew Salinas - sophomore, history

Torin Peterson - freshman, Business Fellow

In the week before the conference, MOAS members Pia Lawrence (senior, finance and international business) and Lauren Lee were invited by the OAS to serve as committee chair and president, respectively, at the inaugural Caribbean Model OAS.

For more information about Baylor’s Model Organization of American States team, click here.

by Ashton Brown, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 16,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.