The University of Lynchburg sent students to compete at the 26th-annual Mid-Atlantic European Union Simulation held in Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, November 9-11.
Congratulations to all of the students on the team: Caelyn Andrews ’19, Laura Arriaza ’20, Wendolyn Borkoski ’20, Pierce Bower ’20, Katie Bradley ’20, Bo Delaney ’19, Carter Elliott ’19, Shifti Kamal (visiting undergraduate), Matthew Kane ’19, Jenna Lopez, Julia Melone ’20, Kimberly Mendez Lemus ’20, Robert Nugent ’19, Brandon Perkins ’19, Andrew Rohleder ’20, Robert Schmidt ’19, Alice Sparhawk, Justin Wimmer ’20, and Hannah Wolf ’19.
In the competition, the students represented Germany and a small governmental delegation from Austria. Being Germany in the European Union, the team came prepared for resistance to their arguments based on historical moments in Europe.
Caelyn Andrews represented Germany as Chancellor Angela Merkel with the help of Robert Nugent and Carter Elliott as her ministers.
Brandon Perkins worked to represent Austria as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Laura Arriaza and Kimberly Mendez Lemus helped as his ministers. Lemus also presided over the Environmental Council of Ministers.
Lynchburg’s team argued in support of strengthening Germany’s military and saving the environment. Students worked in preparation before the competition to gain the most knowledge about how to defend their point of view.
At the competition, other teams tried to bring down Germany’s ego and remind them of their historic past failures. However, the University of Lynchburg team worked to persevere and make their arguments strong and clear.
Lynchburg students were elected leaders of the far-left, socialist, Christian-Democratic, right-conservative, and Green party groups of the European Parliament. Wendy Borkoski, Katie Bradley, Shifti Kamal, Jenna Lopez, Julia Melone, and Justin Wimmer were the elected leaders that rose to power in each respective group.
Other students were elected to positions inside the mock European Union. Andrew Rohleder was elected chair of the Security and Defense Committee. Hannah Wolf was given major responsibilities when she became “Mr. Europe,” President of the European Commission, and had to draft a massive legislative proposal that was the subject of several days of intensive negotiations.
The Lynchburg students worked hard to defend the arguments for their countries and helped in legislative areas of work. The resulting amendments reflected the hard work of the students and their areas of contribution.
At the end of the competition, Robert Schmidt won one of only two Outstanding Parliamentarian awards given this year in the 110-person European Parliament. Shifti Kamal and Alice Sparhawk were nominated as well.
While in D.C., the team also visited the German embassy for a diplomatic briefing. Overall, the team learned a lot and benefited from their time spent preparing for and at the European Union Simulation.
Congratulation again to all of the students who were involved!
