2002 Spring

Baylor Earns Seven Awards at Model Organization of American States Competition

This past weekend (February 11-13, 2000) Baylor University sent a fifteen member team of students to the Third Annual Model Organization of American States Conference, sponsored by the World Affairs Council of San Antonio and the University of the Incarnate Word. Teams from twenty colleges and universities throughout Texas and New Mexico and a team from the Universidad Regiomontana from Monterrey, Mexico represented countries from the Organization of American States. Students acted as diplomats from various countries in North and South America and debated topics such as human rights, drug trafficking, international trade, democracy, and the environment. Baylor represented the country of Venezuela and earned the award for Best Overall Delegation, in recognition of the team’s outstanding research and preparation for this event. In addition to the Team award, several Baylor students received individual recognition for their participation. Trey Nixon, an International Studies graduate student from Charlotte, Texas, won for Most Effective Chair Person.  He headed the Drug Enforcement Committee. Omoniyi Omotoso (Senior, Lagos, Nigeria)  received the Most Effective Delegate Award in the Drug Enforcement Committee. Natalie Tapken (Junior, Sao Paulo, Brazil)  was recognized as the Most Effective Delegate on the Trade and Economic Affairs Committee. The following students received Honorable Mentions as Most Effective Delegates:  Elizabeth Arosemena (Senior, Universal City, Texas) in the Democracy and Human Rights Committee, Marisa Montes,(Senior, Harlingen, Texas) as Head Delegate, and  Kathyrn Connor (Sophmore, Coppell, Texas) in the Security Committee.  Baylor also received commendation for providing three outstanding parliamentarians who kept their committees on track: Jennifer Curry (Senior, Donna, Texas) on the Trade and Economic Affairs Committee, David Ocamb(Sophmore, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) on the Environmental Committee, and Meredyth  Childress (Freshman, Waxahachie, Texas) on the Democracy and Human Rights Committee. Other team members included: Bethany Martinez (Senior, Ft. Worth, Texas),  Rosairo Escajeda (Sophmore, ElPaso, Texas) Ana Gutierrez (Sophmore, San Antonio, Texas), Perla Gámez (Sophmore, Laredo, Texas), Scott Dugan (Senior,  Mesquite, Texas), Robert Scholl (Senior, Bellaire, Texas) .  Dr. Joan Supplee from the Departments of History and Latin American Studies and Dr. Janet Adamski from the Department of Political Science coached the team and accompanied them to the conference.

The students discussed current issues and negotiated resolutions in long committee sessions on Saturday and Sunday, seeking solutions to pressing regional crises.  Conference delegates displayed their diplomatic skills in the committee meetings and one final session of the OAS General Assembly where all the conference participants (more than 100 students) finally reached consensus on a number of issues.  Ambassador Ronald Goddard, a judge at the competition and a member of the OAS judiciary committee, told the General Assembly that he was so impressed by a resolution on anti-corruption sponsored by the Baylor delegation from the Drug Enforcement Committee, that he was carrying it back to the judiciary committee. The Model OAS team now turns its attention to representing the country of Uruguay at the International MOAS competition in Washington, D.C. in April.

For more information about the MOAS team and the San Antonio or Washington, D. C. competitions, please contact: Dr. Joan Supplee at 710-6294.