Nine Hampden-Sydney College students have joined students from 26 colleges and universities from across the country this week at the 2016 Washington Model Organization of American States. Hampden-Sydney's delegation is representing Panama and, upon
On Tuesday, the delegation met with the Panamanian Ambassador to the OAS, Jesus Sierra Victoria. Alex Abbott ’17 says, "The class presented individual Proposed Draft Resolutions to the Ambassador, and received input as to how he believed Panama would handle each individual resolution. The Ambassador told us the Panama Canal's neutrality is paramount in any sort of litigation in the OAS. Committees met in the afternoon with many resolutions being debated, amended and passed, including a Panamanian resolution on creating a "Conference to Enhance Cooperation of Member States in Preventing and Eradicating Human Trafficking through Means of Social Media" presented by Salvador Benitez ’16 and Nick Browning ’17.
The students attending WMOAS are Alex Abbott ’17, Ben Bardill ’16, Salvador Benitez ’16, Nick Browning ’17, Joseph Fox ’17, Sam Johnson ’16, Kevin Keena ’16, Nick Palmer ’16, and Edward Robinson ’17. Their advisor is Dr. Kenneth Lehman, Squires Professor of History.