LC students received two of the eight awards presented at the Mid-Atlantic European Union Simulation in Washington, D.C. Nov. 13-15. Elizabeth O’Hara ’15 won the Outstanding Commissioner Award for the second year in a row and Grace Leahey ’15 the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award.
LC’s delegation represented Italy among 12 college and university teams (and some 150 students). In several days of heated deliberations and negotiations, delegates debated and amended a resolution regarding EU’s proposed free trade agreement with the United States and a slate of legislative proposals to address them.
“We also visited the Italian Embassy for a diplomatic briefing by its chief economic officer,” said Dr. Marek Payerhin, professor of international relations and political science, who led the delegation.
“It was a good start – in my eight years with the simulation, I have never heard so many expressions of how impressed the diplomat was with our students’ knowledge of the subject.”
LC’s members of the European Parliament Dane Angell, Sharif Koonce, Kenneth Moten and Kendall Topping were elected chairs or vice chairs of all party groups they joined, including the largest ones, while Christopher DeCarmen was elected chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Italian government was represented by Greg Schuster as Prime Minister Renzi as well as our “ministers” Justin Hamlet and Stephen Parvin. The elected office-holders were not eligible for further awards.
Other participants were Kevin Conley, Kevin Loveless and Jessica Pleasants.