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For the third year in a row the Oklahoma Christian University Model Arab League brought home the award for outstanding delegation at their annual conference.
The conference took place April 3-5 at Texas A&M Commerce University. Sponsored by Assistant Professor of Political Science Raymon Huston, Oklahoma Christian competed against 12 different universities. Some of the universities present included North Taylor, Baylor, Texas West End, University of Arkansas, Texas A&M, Saint Mary’s and Oklahoma Baptist University.
“What you have to do is to represent an Arab country,” Huston said. “Arguing the way they would argue, making a presentation as if you’re from that country and trying to get resolutions passed.”
Relations between the competing delegations are vital, since the process is peer-reviewed. This year, delegates selected Oklahoma Christian students as the best representatives of a country.
“What makes [the recognition] even more impressive is that it’s not a set of judges that choose the outstanding delegates, it’s the delegates themselves,” Huston said. “The students themselves get to choose who did the best job.”
Huston noted the value of the Modern Arab League comes from the hands-on experience of pushing students to adopt a cultural perspective through thorough, educated research.
“The 10 students that I take, they have to be able to understand deeply, not only the Middle East themselves, but then they have to truly understand the culture of a single country,” Huston said.
Senior and head delegate Christian Asbill said Oklahoma Christian participated in five of the seven committees this year, and won four of those five.
“We got honorable mention on the fifth one, and then we won the overall outstanding delegation,” Asbill said. “So we were representing the United Arabs, so that means that we as a delegation performed the best out of all the delegations in attendance.
Asbill gave his team members high praise for their efforts this year.
“The people who came out and participated did a phenomenal, an absolutely phenomenal job; I’m so proud of them,” Asbill said. “They really went above and beyond.
Sophomore Alexis Farrell and her partner, junior Tyler Parette, won outstanding delegation in the Joint Defense Council.
“The Joint Defense Council is an institution created through the implementation of treaty of joint defense and economic cooperation between the states of the Arab League in order to establish a protocol for collective security within the Arab region,” Farrell said.
Farrell’s job was to repel acts of aggression against any of the other member states, and said she was glad to be a part of Oklahoma Christian’s successful squad.
“It felt amazing to know that I could be a part of such a successful team and made me feel blessed to know that I am amongst such great future leaders,” Farrell said.
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