Founded 1995
Founded 1995
Please note that this is no longer the official website of the Berry Model Arab League.
This page will not be updated but will remain online for historical reasons.
Please visit the official Berry Model Arab League website for the latest on Berry's MAL program.
History:
1995-1996: Algeria The Berry Model Arab League was founded by Smokey Ardisson as Head Delegate and Dr. Susan S. Maneck as Faculty Advisor. Berry's first delegation to the Southeast Model Arab League consisted of Ardisson, freshmen Evrim Kale and Tanfer Keskin, and sophomore Hooman Khoshnood, representing the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria. Ardisson and Khoshnood both won Outstanding Delegate awards, on the Political and Socio-Cultural Affairs committees respectively.
Ardisson, Khoshnood, sophomores Lynsey Morris and Rachel Powell, and freshman Elizabeth Thompson won Outstanding Delegate awards for the Political, Social, Palestinian, Social, and Economic Affairs committees, respectively. Members of the Outstanding Delegation representing Egypt were Ardisson, Drew Arrington, Adam Day, Shilpa Iyer, Powell, and Thompson. Other Berry delegates were Ieva Smilgaine and Parker Bohn, and Dr. Maneck was assisted with the job of advising the delegations by Dr. Bill Hoyt, Professor of Religion and Philosophy Emeritus.
In addition, Ardisson was elected Parliamentarian of the Political Affairs Committee and Thompson was chosen to serve as Rapporteur of the Economic Affairs Committee. Ardisson was also invited to serve as the Secretary-General of the first National High School Model, held in Washington, DC, in April 1997. Ardisson would also attend the Summer in Syria Program for six weeks of study at the University of Aleppo in the summer.
1997-1998: Syria For the second year in a row, the Berry Model Arab League won the Outstanding Delegation award at the Southeast Model Arab League, despite serious difficulties obtaining financial resources. The Berry Model Arab League secured its position as the dominant Model Arab League delegation in the Southeast. Berry also won three individual Outstanding Delegate awards and Ardisson was elected Secretary-General for the 1999 model. This performance again qualified the Berry Model Arab League to send a delegation to the 1999 National Model.
Ardisson and Powell repeated as Outstanding Delegates on the Political and Social Affairs committees, and were joined by senior Drew Arrington, who received the Outstanding Delegate award for Palestinian Affairs. Bohn and Thompson rounded out the Berry Model Arab League's Outstanding Delegation from Syria.
In addition, Ardisson and Arrington were elected Vice-chair and Rapporteur for their respective committees. On their committees, Powell also served as Vice-chair, and Thompson was chosen to serve as Parliamentarian.
Sadly, due to funding, support, and other political issues, the Berry Model Arab League was unable to attend the 1998 National Model, which it had qualified to attend the previous year. 1998 also marked the final year that Dr. Susan Maneck was able to provide her able guidance to the delegation.
Juniors Dan Alban and Erin Oiler performed an incredible feat, singlehandedly securing the election of next year's Secretary-General, a delegate from North Carolina Central University, over the candidate from one of the perrenial National Model powers. Other members of the Berry Model Arab League were seniors Bohn and Ryan Kenkel and juniors Amy Tate and Amanda Mullins. At this Model, Dr. Amy J. Johnson began her role as the new Faculty Advisor for the Berry Model Arab League.
1999 Southeast Model Press Release
Ardisson ended his career by winning the Outstanding Delegate award for the Political Affairs Committee, and Tate and Oiler won the Honorable Mention awards for the Economic Affairs and Social Affairs Committees, respectively. Ardisson also served as Vice Chair of the Political Affairs Committee. Senior Holly O'Neal and sophomore Jennifer DeLoach completed the Berry delegation, which, with the exception of Ardisson, consisted entirely of students in their first year of participation in the program.
Based on its performance and ability to make the small country of Yemen a powerful force at the Model, Berry received an invitation to attend the Tenth Cairo International Model Arab League, held in Egypt at the American University in Cairo in November 1999. The performance of the Berry Model Arab League at the National Model also qualified the delegation to attend again the 2000 model; Ardisson, who would then be a graduate student at Georgetown University, was also asked to serve as a judge for the 2000 Model.
1999 National Model Press Release
Campus Carrier, April 15, 1999
At the 2000 Southeast MAL, Berry's first post-Fvmosan delegation continued the tradition of excellence established over the past four years. Led by Amy Tate, who won an Honorable Mention award on the Economic Affairs Committee, and Jennifer DeLoach, Outstanding Delegate on the Social Affairs Committee, Berry's young delegation won the Honorable Mention Delegation award. Scott McIntosh also won an Honorable Mention award for the Security Affairs Committee. Joey Colombo and Anna Krampl rounded out the delegation. Berry MAL returned from Spartanburg ready and eager to attend the National Model, where ex-delegate Ardisson would be 'recalled to duty' to fill in as Assistant Secretary-General.
Berry's second appearance in Washington, at the 18th National Model Arab League, reached new heights at the highly-competitive Model. For her firey representation of Iraq, Amy Tate won the Outstanding Delegate award on the Economic Affairs Committee, where she also served as Parliamentarian. Aysheh Mahmoud won an Honorable Mention award for the Palestinain Affairs Committee. Jennifer DeLoach won the Outstanding Delegate award on the Social Affairs Committee and was selected to participate in one of the National Council's summer programs to Syria and Morocco. These awards, as well as strong performances from Scott McIntosh and Joey Colombo, won Berry its first National MAL award, a well-deserved Honorable Mention, an impressive finish for a delegation with only two delegates returning from last year.
At the Southeast Model, McIntosh won an Honorable Mention for his representation of Palestine on the Security Affairs Committee, in which he also served as Parliamentarian. Ayesha Mahmoud also recieved Honorable Mention for her work on the Palestinian Affairs Committee, and the Palestine delegation as a whole (seniors McIntosh, Mahmoud, Jennifer DeLoach and Joey Colombo and junior Anna Krampl) also received an Honorable Mention.
At the 19th National Model Arab League, Berry completed its rise to national dominance. In its sixth year of existance, and only its third in attendance at the National Model, the Berry Model Arab League delegation returned from Washington with the coveted Outstanding Delegation award, its first at the National Model. The delegation, consisting half of returning delegates and half of new faces, put in a stellar performance as Sudan, and the delegates obtained four Outstanding Delegate awards, the largest number at the National Model and the second-most in the delegation's history. Jennifer DeLoach won a record second National Model Outstanding Delegate award, for the Social Affairs Committee. Scott McIntosh won the Outstanding Delegate award for the Economic Affairs Committee, and newcomer Terrel Clark won for Political Affairs. Aysheh Mahmoud, whose firey speeches were a favorite of other delegates, won the Outstanding Delegate award on the Palestinian Affairs Committee. Other members of Berry's award-winning National Model delegation were Joey Colombo, Christy Moore, and Andrea Oldham.
2001-2002: Libya and Jordan At the the Southeast Model, where Berry students represented Libya and Jordan, senior Christy Moore (Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior), junior Terrell Clark (Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers), sophomore Jeff Shaw (Joint Defense Council), and sophomore Herrick Kroeger (Arab Economic Unity Council) all won Outstanding Delegate awards for their representation of Libya. Senior Oskar Kaszubski won a Honorable Mention award for his representation of Libya on the Council of Palestinian Affairs. The Libya delegation (Kaszubski, Clark, Shaw, Kroeger, Moore and freshmen Marcus Sandelowsky and Jennifer Carman, juniors Andrea Oldham and Victoria Potts, and seniors Heather Shirley and Anna Krampl) also received the delegation Honorable Mention award. The Jordan delegation, composed of first year participants, also turned in a strong performance.
At the 20th National Model Arab League, Berry represented Libya. In an extremely impressive performance and fielding its largest team at Nationals in team history, the Berry delegation received individual awards in four of the six committees. Moore won Outstanding Delegate in the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, Clark won Outstanding Delegate in the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers, Shaw received Outstanding Delegate for his work in the Joint Defense Council, and Kaszubski received Honorable Mention in the Palestinian Affairs committee. Carman, Krampl, Shirley, Oldham, freshmen Victoria Torres and Christina Gentile, and junior David Fordney rounded out the Libya delegation, which also won Honorable Mention in the team awards.
Campus Carrier, September 26, 2002
Twenty-three colleges and universities from the United States and Egypt attended the National Model Arab League competition, where a young Berry delegation represented Palestine. Three Berry students won the highest individual awards. Shaw again received the Outstanding Delegate award for his work in the Council on Palestinian Affairs (his second Outstanding Delegate award at the National level and fourth overall, tying the count of DeLoach and Clark at Nationals and the career total of Berry MAL founder Ardisson). Junior Marcus Sandelowsky received the Outstanding Delegate Award for his efforts in the Council of Arab Interior Ministers. In her first year with the team, freshman Carrie Stallings received the Outstanding Reporter award for her work on the Arab League Reporters' Corps, a new organization. McIntosh also was instrumental in organizing and administering the National competition.
Campus Carrier, April 10, 2003
2003-2004: Morocco and Iraq Fourteen colleges and universities attended the 2003 Southeast Regional Model Arab League competition, where Berry students represented Morocco and Iraq. Often cited as the most competitive of all regional Model Arab League conferences, the Southeast Model once again featured top-notch competition this year. Two Berry students received the top individual awards in their committees. Senior Jeff Shaw, representing Iraq on the Arab Court of Justice, successfully argued for forbearance in Iraq's payment of war reparations to Kuwait and was awarded the Outstanding Justice award for his work. With this win, Shaw broke founder Ardisson's career record for awards. In her first MAL competition, senior Kristin Gordon won the Honorable Mention award for her work representing Iraq on the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers. The Southeast Regional Model Arab League competition was again organized and administered by 2001 Berry graduate and former Berry Model Arab League team member Scott David McIntosh, now Program Coordinator for the National Council on US-Arab Relations, the activity's governing body.
Twenty-three colleges and universities from the United States and Egypt attended the National Model Arab League competition, where a largely first-year Berry delegation represented Morocco. Shaw received the Outstanding Delegate award for the Council on Palestinian Affairs, putting him in sole posession of the records for career total and National Model awards. Gordon, serving on the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers, received a Special Commendation award from the chairperson of the Council. McIntosh organized and administered the National competition as well.
The Berry delegation also participated in a policy briefing at the Royal Embassy of Morocco, conducted by Deputy Chief of Mission Hasan Hami. In addition, faculty advisor Dr. Amy Johnson, senior David Tanner, and senior Arezoo Jamshidi were interviewed by al-Jazeera, the internationally respected Arabic language satellite news channel based in Qatar. The National University MAL competition will be the subject of an hour-long special that will air at 1 pm on Thursday, April 8, as part of al-Jazeera's "From Washington" segment. It will focus on the activities of the model's summit and its debates about Arab affairs in the wake of the cancellation of the actual Arab summit, which was to open in Tunis, Tunisia on March 29.
Campus Carrier, April 10, 2003
Visit the new Where Are They Now? page to find the latest information about former delegates.
About the Arab League & the Model Arab League:
The League of Arab States was founded in March 1945, predating the United Nations, and is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, with a US office in the Washington, DC. The League brings all 22 of the Arab countries together to discuss issues important to the Middle East and the Arab world.
The Model Arab League is a leadership development program of the National Council on USArab Relations, a Washington, DCbased nonprofit group which seeks to promote greater US understanding of the Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world through educational programs.
The Berry delegation will represent Libya and Jordan at the Southeast Model and Libya at the National Model in spring 2002. Anyone wishing to participate in the Arab League should contact Dr. Amy J. Johnson in Evans 112B. The Model Arab League would be of particular value to those who wish to have intensive debating experience and to history, government, international studies, anthropology, and communication majors, though all students are welcome. No prior knowledge of the Middle East or debating experience is necessary.
This site is hosted by al-Qâhira fî Amrîkâ, the website of Berry Model Arab League founder and current Georgetown University gradute student Smokey Ardisson. For questions about the website, please contact him.
Return to Smokey | MAL Memories