Political Science Student Wins National Conference Award

Kristen Kilpatrick

In the conference’s Model Summit of the Americas competition, Kilpatrick earned a Distinguished Delegate Award for her performance on the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development Committee. The award was given for her work in committee arguing for passage of a proposal, debating various other proposals, and using parliamentary procedure.

Also during the conference, Kilpatrick was elected ESMOAS secretary general for 2022. She is also president of the ASU Student Government Association.

ESMOAS is an academically-centered program that brings together the nation’s best and brightest college students to debate the issues facing the nations in North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Student teams represent assigned member states of the Organization of American States (OAS).

(L-R) Ian Hernandez, Kristen Kilpatrick, Jeramy Souder and Dr. Matthew Gritter ASU students Ian Hernandez, a history/political science double-major from Sugar Land, and Jeramy Souder, a criminal justice major from San Angelo, also attended the ESMOAS conference. They joined with Kilpatrick as a delegation representing Uruguay to prepare, debate and approve proposals, as well as respond to hypothetical crises, while following parliamentary procedures in various committees.

Dr. Matthew Gritter Dr. Matthew Gritter, chair of ASU’s Department of Political Science and Philosophy, is the faculty sponsor for the ESMOAS team and accompanied the students to the conference.

“The students worked together to prepare for the competition and performed well with outstanding written work, and developed debating and diplomatic skills,” Gritter said. “Competing against students from Baylor University, Texas State University and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, they excelled in this international competition.”

The OAS was established in 1948 to achieve an order of peace and justice among its member states, promote their solidarity, strengthen their collaboration, and defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Its membership consists of all 35 independent states of the Americas. More details are available at oas.org.