With Model OAS, TU students get a global worldview

By Rebecca Kirkman on October 25, 2018

For five days in April, a delegation of about a dozen TU students will represent Ecuador in the Washington Model Organization of American States (OAS), a simulation of the OAS General Assembly where delegations from universities across North and South America represent the organization’s 35 independent member states.

“About one-third of the participating universities come from Latin America,” said Spanish professor Colleen Ebacher, who leads the TU delegation. From researching and writing a resolution to presenting in front of 50 peers, the program gives students real-world, professional experiences they can’t get inside the classroom.

“The majority of our students don’t go on to graduate studies, so this type of experiential learning helps prepare them for professional work and creates opportunities to engage in the wider community,” said Ebacher, noting that the program requires no Foreign Languages prerequisites and is open to students across the entire university. “A good delegation includes students with diverse skills and strengths—we’ve had a geographer, economist and musician on the team, and each brought a unique perspective.”

Students who apply and are accepted into the program prepare for the conference by enrolling in LAST 385 for the spring term. In the class, Ebacher teaches students about the Organization of American States, diplomatic protocol and regional politics. Students prepare positions on real topics covered by the OAS, culminating in a draft proposed resolution consistent with the position of the member state they are representing. Once they arrive in Washington, D.C., the simulation is entirely student-run. “The faculty, we sit on our hands,” said Ebacher with a laugh.

At the end of the conference, students run campaigns to be elected officers for the next year’s model. In 2019, junior Nic Cassagnol ’20, an international studies major, will return to the conference for a second year to serve as vice chair of the Special Committee.

“This is a great honor for the university,” said Ebacher, who is a member of the WMOAS board of directors. “We haven’t had a student officer elected in more than five years.”

Last year, representing Barbados, Cassagnol wrote and presented a resolution to the Special Committee on the regulation of pharmaceuticals and opioids. “The professor and subjects guide you along, but I chose the subject because I had a personal connection to it,” said Cassagnol, who plans to pursue a career in international relations. “The experience taught me that the way you think is rooted in your country, and through this simulation we’re forced to shift our perspective.”

In addition to professional skills, students develop lifelong friendships with peers from other countries. Such was the case for Jonathan Reyes ’13. A business administration major concentrating in international business and minoring in Spanish, Reyes participated in the spring 2013 delegation representing Belize. Now, he works as a small business lending officer at the Latino Economic Development Center in Baltimore.

“The experience piqued my interest in traveling, and I started visiting South America,” said Reyes. “I made lifelong friendships [with students from a university in Colombia], that I still keep in touch with.” In addition to learning about Latin American cultures, Reyes said the experience helped him communicate with international clients in his first job as an operations manager for a small business exporting goods across the globe.

“It was a great opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime,” Reyes said of Model OAS. “Meeting people from different countries really opens your eyes to the international market.”

Applications to participate in the spring 2019 conference are now available. The deadline to apply is Nov. 21.

This story is one of several related to President Kim Schatzel’s priorities for Towson University: TU Matters to Maryland.