Ten members of Baylor’s Model Organization of American States team traveled to Washington, D.C., from March 29 to April 4 to participate in the Washington Model Organization of American States, hosted by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Institute for Diplomatic Dialogue in the Americas.

Twenty-eight teams from the United States, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Canada and Argentina debated resolutions in five committees and worked through a crisis scenario that involved resolving the Argentine debt crisis. Ewan Hamilton-Short (senior, Business Fellows, Waco) served as president and chair of the General Committee.

The Ambassador of Suriname to the OAS, Niermala Badrising, President of the Permanent Council, addressed the opening session in the Hall of the Americas, outlining 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.

On Tuesday the Baylor team visited the Belizean Mission to the OAS for a briefing on their country. In addition to a conversation with the Mission’s First Secretary, Kendall Belisle, students met H.E. Nestor Mendez, Belizean Ambassador to the OAS and the United States. Earlier this month, Ambassador Mendez was elected to a five-year term as Assistant Secretary General of the OAS. First Secretary Belisle congratulated the students on their well-researched resolutions and comprehensive position paper.

In the Model, all of the Baylor team’s nine resolutions were approved by the faculty board and the majority passed in committee by acclamation. Our team stood out for having the most resolutions passed in committee. The Baylor team members included: head delegate Lauren Lee (junior, University Scholar, Olathe, Kan.); co-head delegate Joan Stanton (senior, political science, Massapequa, N.Y.); Colten Stanberry (senior, history, Houston); Kelsey Shelton (junior, international studies, Enfield, Conn.); Aaron Fields (senior, political science, Little Rock, Ark.); Marissa Rosario (junior, political science, Waco); May Atassi (freshman, business, Homs, Syria); Andrew Salinas (sophomore, history, Houston; and Torin Peterson (freshman, Business Fellows, Rapid City, S.D.).

In the week before the Washington conference, Lauren Lee and Pia Lawrence (senior, finance and international business, Kennett, Mo.) were invited by the OAS to serve as president and committee chair, respectively, at the inaugural Caribbean Model OAS held in St. Kitts and Nevis.

———————–

ABOVE PHOTO: