Basic HTML Version
Campus Review
November 13, 2013
Page 18
Blake
(Eighth
place
Individual
Advocate/Client Award) and Johnson
(15th place Individual Mediator).
As Ogden points out, the Drake tourna-
ment was the culmination of a month of
successes for the Clayton State Mediation
Team.
On Oct. 3 and Oct. 4, at the Brenau
University 11th Annual Mock Mediation
Invitational Tournament, Clayton State’s
team warmed up for Drake by taking the
First Place Advocate/Client Team Award,
the Second Place Client/Advocate Team
Award, the Second Place Mediation Team
Award, and the Third Place Mediation
Team Award . Individually, Moultrie was
the first place mediator while Blake took
second place in the same category.
Two weeks after Brenau, at the Georgia
State University 2013 Peacemaking
Tournament on Oct. 17, Clayton State
again took the First Place Team Award,
while Blake and Moultrie won the First
Place Advocacy Team Award and
Moultrie took second place Mediator
Award.
“The tournament gave out five awards,
and our students won three of them,”
noted Ogden after the Georgia State
Tournament.
Cameroon at Clayton State –
the 2013 Southeast Model African Union Conference
by John Shiffert
Cameroon is coming to Georgia; after a
fashion. It’s part of Georgia's 17th Annual
Southeast Model African Union
(SEMAU) Conference, which will
include a team of students from Clayton
State University representing Cameroon.
A three-day, student-centered simulation
event, hosted this year at Columbus State
University, the Southeast Model African
Union Conference Africa Council
(USAC) and the University System of
Georgia, will be held from Nov. 14 to
Nov. 16.
“SEMAU is modeled after the Model
U.N.,” explains Clayton State Associate
Professor of Political Science, Dr.
Augustine Ayuk, who will be leading and
advising the Clayton State “delegation.”
“We chose Cameroon – our students will
serve as ambassadors of that country. It’s
a very strong exercise in role-playing.
“Cameroon is unique, an Africa in minia-
ture. It’s a one-stop shop with all of the
continent’s characteristics. We hope to
launch a Clayton State study abroad pro-
gram to Cameroon next year.”
“This event will give students an opportu-
nity to learn diplomacy and governmental
organization through a unique simulation
experience,” notes SEMAU Director and
Columbus State criminal justice and soci-
ology Professor Dr. Florence Wakoko-
Studstill, who adds that SEMAU is actual-
ly a two-fold educational experience,
involving both classroom learning and
experiential learning. The former includes
students gathering information, doing
research, and learning issues about their
specific country in their classrooms, while
the latter involves taking part in the simu-
lated meetings of the actual commissions
of the African Union.
According to Ayuk, SEMAU is designed
to enrich and enhance the students’ under-
standing of the political, economic, envi-
ronmental, human rights, social and cul-
tural dimensions of different African
countries and how they relate to each
other and the rest of the world as members
of the African Union. Given the important
learning potential of events like SEMAU,
Ayuk also professes his thanks for the
support of the Clayton State Office of
International Programs, his department
chair, Dr. Rafik Mohamed, and College of
Arts & Sciences Dean Dr. Nasser
Momayezi.
Fittingly, Clayton State’s student delega-
tion to SEMAU is a diverse group of
seven, including Damian Loback, a junior
from Newnan who served 10 years in the
U.S. Army, including two tours of duty in
Iraq, Riverdale High School graduate
Krysten Long, Janet Williams, a legal
studies major from Decatur, Lincolnton,
Ga., native Brandon Jenkins, Peachtree
City’s Nayshka Fauston, Atlanta native
Jessica Malcolm, and, to give just the
right international touch, Martina Dedaj, a
native of Croatia.
Long, who took part in last year’s
SEMAU, says it was an eye-opening
experience.
“I never thought too much previously about
global events,” she explains. “Now I have a
different perspective.”
Part of that perspective was learning how to
deal with delegates from other countries.
“It got pretty intense in the debates, in the
end we were able to agree to disagree,” she
recalls.
Ayuk agrees with Long’s assessment, and
notes that, in addition to learning about
African countries, the students also learn
about human relations.
“There are a lot of issues they will learn
about, and once they go through the experi-
ence, they will know how to address them-
selves when discussing any type of issues,”
he points out.
“I learned how to stand up for my beliefs,”
adds Malcolm, who also took part in last
year’s SEMAU. “I had to go back in there
and fight for what I believed, to be resilient.”
Ayuk also mentions another practical aspect
of taking part in SEMAU.
“It adds a lot to your resume,” he says. “One
of our students last year ended up getting a
teaching job in Japan.”
Williams, the legal studies major, has a sim-
ilar practical reason for taking part in
SEMAU.
“I would love to work for an agency like
the U.N.,” she says.
Mediation, cont’d. from p. 1