International Relations Club members win prizes at Model EU

Three members of the Pitt-Bradford International Relations/Model United Nations Club earned awards at a Model European Union simulation held Feb. 24-25 at Duquesne University.

Selena Benitez-Cuffee, an international affairs, history-political science and business management major from Columbia, Md., and Eduardo Gonzalez Medalla, a pre-medicine student from Sugar Hill, Ga., who were representing Spain, earned honorable mention for best country performance.

Students are judged on their preparation, including knowledge of background issues; representation, including how they characterize and portray the character and policies of the country; and diplomacy.

Steven Jackson, an international affairs and history-political science major from Olean, N.Y., who represented Hungary, was one of two students to receive awards for having written the best position paper.

The event was organized by the University of Pittsburgh's European Studies Center and the Jean Monnet European Union Centre of Excellence.

Other Pitt-Bradford students taking part in the simulation, were Evan Bender, a history-political science major from Bainbridge; Maya Bingaman, an international affairs major from Stevens; Sabrina Elmobdy, who is also president of the club, a criminal justice and history-political science major from Morrisville; Boluwatife Ogundele, an accounting major from Allentown; Charles Roane, a chemistry major from Philadelphia; Craig Smith, an international affairs and pre-law student from Philadelphia; and Wenjie Yang, an accounting major from Zhucheng, China. They represented the Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in the competition.

Dr. Stephen Robar, associate professor of political science, traveled with the group. Club Adviser Dr. Helma de Vries-Jordan, assistant professor of political science, has announced that Pitt-Bradford will host the next Model European Union simulation in February 2018.