UAA Master of Public Administration students earn honors at global competition
by Michelle Saport |
UAA Master of Public Administration students Brandon Nye, Kate Wright, Katie Dougherty and Loreen Davis participated in the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) Batten Student Simulation Competition on Feb. 25 at the University of Washington campus in Seattle.
The global competition challenges students to learn by using innovative simulation technology to address a relevant international problem. This year's topic was food security and the world-wide effort to address UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030).
UAA Master of Public Administration students competed in the NASPAA Batten Student Simulation Competition on Feb. 25 in Seattle. From left to right: Katie Dougherty, Kate Wright, Brandon Nye, Loreen Davis.
The UAA students were among nearly 400 graduate students in public policy and management from around the world who traveled to eight university locations (Maastricht, New York City, Washington D.C. area, Indianapolis, Bogotá, Tempe, Seattle and Beijing) to compete in the one-day immersive computer simulation that challenged them to advance global food security.
Students from different schools divided into teams of 16 to 20, where they bonded as members of staff of a fictional global non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to reducing global hunger in five world regions. They analyzed data, made policy proposals, reacted to the computer simulation results, drafted memos with recommendations and presented their strategy recommendations to teams of local site judges.
The University of Washington World One team, which featured UAA students Katie Dougherty and Kate Wright, won the localized site competition and placed in the top eight among all locations. Although the team did not make it into the top two spots globally to win coveted internships, the super judges recognized their performance for focusing on the "key elements that really affect people's lives."
After speaking with all four students from UAA that attended the event, one thing is for sure-this experience provided a valuable learning opportunity! Competing at the host site of University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy, they were able to meet students from other campuses and at various stages of their public policy careers. All four were adamant they would participate in this competition or something similar in the future.
"UAA Master of Public Administration students earn honors at global competition" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.