Every winter, Baylor’s Department of Political Science invites the highest-achieving students majoring in political science or international studies to apply to attend a foreign policy conference hosted by a military academy. The faculty choose up to eight students to attend a conference at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, or Texas A&M. Usually half of the students selected are political science majors and half are international studies majors.

Daniel Burch and Tanner Wright attended the Student Conference On National Affairs (SCONA) at Texas A&M University in February 2020. The theme of the 65th Annual SCONA was “Forging America’s Future: Exploring Solutions for Current Challenges.” Colonel Mike Fossum was the keynote speaker. He is a former astronaut with NASA and a former flight test engineer with the Air Force. Other featured speakers were:

• Casey Fleming, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackOps Partners
• Brigadier General Kim Field, the Executive Director of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy at the Bush School of Public Service and a retired officer of the U.S. Army.
• Major General Patrick Hamilton, the Commanding General of the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Army National Guard.

There were roundtables on a variety of topics, including sustainable energy, cybersecurity, natural resources, great power competition, and more. Each roundtable was facilitated by a leader with significant experience in academia, industry, the military, and/or the foreign service.

Both of our students attended a crisis simulation for two days before the main conference began. The International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise focused on simulating a diplomatic crisis related to North Korea.

Tanner Wright described his experience, saying “I had the privilege of attending the Student Conference On National Affairs (SCONA) at Texas A&M University in February. The focus of this conference was on the challenges that the United States is facing today, and ways to preserve our national security in the face of these challenges. My particular group was assigned the challenge of promoting American national security through Higher Education, and we composed a policy paper of our solutions. By the end of the conference, we had won the ‘Best Policy Presentation’ award! SCONA 65 was a special opportunity and I’m thankful to have had the experience.”

Year after year, the students who attend SCONA praise the host’s level of preparation and the connections they make with fellow students and seasoned leaders. Conferences like SCONA show students that effective foreign policy includes cooperation between civilian and military leaders.