ISSUED: 19 October 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University hosted 110 students from six area high schools on October 18 during the annual World Affairs Seminar. The event was sponsored by Shepherd’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Political Science and Global Studies, Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Studies, and the Martinsburg and Shepherdstown Rotary clubs.
Students from Jefferson and Washington high schools in Jefferson County and Martinsburg, Spring Mills, Musselman, and Hedgesville high schools in Berkeley County attended the seminar, titled “Coming to America: Untangling the Immigration Debate.”
The high school students heard from Siriki Diabate, Shepherd’s international recruiter and admissions officer, who was a refugee from the Ivory Coast, and listened to an audio interview with a Shepherd student who is a Hispanic immigrant and DREAMer—an undocumented immigrant who was brought to the United States as a child. Ken Hill, retired U.S. State Department ambassador, discussed current immigration challenges. Shepherd’s Debate and Forensics Team did a demonstration addressing the topic of whether the U.S. should build a wall along the Mexican border, and Shepherd’s Model U.N. guided the high school students through a simulation.
Shepherd professors who contributed to the day’s conversation included Dr. Ann Marie Legreid, dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Dr. Max Guirguis, co-chair, Department of Political Science and Global Studies; and Dr. Aart Holtslag, co-chair, Department of Political Science and Global Studies.
The World Affairs Seminar is an annual event sponsored by the Rotary clubs since the late 1980s that is designed to engage area high school students in topics of international interest.
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