April 22, 2011

Students ranked in annual Southwest Model Arab League

Ten Harding University students participated in the annual Southwest
Model Arab League for the first time in the school’s history April 7-9
at University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a team of two Harding
students receiving honorable mention.

The students, members of the Harding chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, an
international political science honor society, were assigned to
represent the United Arab Emirates at the simulation hosted by the
National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. The teams researched preset
topics for several weeks before the competition to create agendas to
present before student attendees of 16 other universities from
Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Senior political science major James Brunton of Leire, England, and
Steven Crowder of Abilene, Texas, served on the Joint Defense Council
and were awarded honorable mention based on a review by the student
delegates in attendance and recommendations from chairpersons on the
committee.

Harding students Emily Hartman, Kathleen Larkin, Emily Wood, Caleb
Stovall, Bethany Stovall, Garin Giacomarro, Andrew English and Sarah
Everett also participated in various committees at the competition
including the Political, Social, Environmental and Palestine Affairs
Councils.

“We heard about the event and had wanted to look at ways to be more
active,” Brunton said. “We unanimously felt it would be something that
would be enjoyable, challenging and help us to learn more about the
Middle East and Islam in general.”

The Southwest Model Arab League is one of 14 annual simulations across
the U.S. hosted by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations that
seeks to educate university and high school students on issues in the
Arab world and improve skills of diplomacy and public discussion.