Auburn College of Education hosts WAYS Camp, encourages global thinking

Rising 10^th- to 12^th-graders gathered on campus this week to explore what it takes to be global leaders at this year’s World Affairs Youth Seminar, or WAYS Camp, led by Auburn College of Education Associate Professor Jesús Tirado and other faculty and students.

Each day, participants met to examine global issues in a real-world context by assuming the role of delegates from countries whose viewpoints they must accurately represent using the Model United Nations (MUN) forum.

This summer, WAYS Camp focused on two global problems: access to clean water and the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Campers Joella McCarron and Elena Valdivieso said their experience has been eye-opening.

“I’ve learned a lot more about the situations going on in different countries and how these issues affect them,” McCarron said.

“There’s a lot more happening in our world than I thought, and I’m becoming more aware of these struggles around the globe,” Valdivieso added.

In daily MUN sessions, campers took on the role of an ambassador of their assigned country and then advocated for their nation’s interest in discussions with their fellow campers while assessing the issues from all angles and collaborating to solve shared problems.

Philip Adams and Sienna Brightman said they have learned a lot about how complicated the decision-making process is in the MUN sessions.

“It takes a really long time to make decisions because there is always someone who disagrees from their country’s point of view,” Adams said.

“The debates have really helped with improving communication skills with people who have other perspectives,” Brightman agreed.

Auburn College of Education students majoring in social science education play a big role in WAYS Camp, preparing lessons to explore the conflicts, including data and historical context of the chosen issues. Faculty, like Dr. Matthew Clary of the Department of Political Science, and other campus partners, like Alabama Water Resource Center, gave lectures and presentations to further understanding of this year’s global problems.

Charlie Ledeburg is one of the Social Science Education students who helped create the curriculum for WAYS Camp.

“We were all assigned a specific topic for which we have to lesson plan and teach, and it was a really great opportunity to apply all the things we’ve learned in our classroom into a real-life classroom,” Ledeburg said.

Learn more about the College of Education’s social science education programs online. Additional details about WAYS Camp can be found on the Auburn Youth Programs website.