Go to Chapter I

By Catherine Housholder

Last fall, five seniors from East Noble High School in Kendallville, Ind., each with their own talents and passions, accepted a challenge presented by their government teacher, Robert Waterson: compete in the U.S. State Department’s international website competition and teach their rural, sheltered community in Northeast Indiana about the history of international affairs.

Daunting? Definitely. But these five teens thrive on challenges. With determination, motivation and guidance from Waterson, they developed their own website and submitted it to the U.S. State Department. They were exhilarated when they learned that they beat out 260 other teams and were selected as co-winners with a team from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Each member of the team won a $2000 scholarship and a trip to Washington, D.C. May 21st.

The five seniors split the topic five ways. They specified five factors that influence foreign diplomacy and then used historical examples of how they influenced foreign relations. Jacob Benedict, now a Notre Dame freshman, tackled his passion — economics.

“Economics does not only exist as a determining factor in the decision making process, but can also be used by diplomats to exert pressure during negotiations,” he said. “For instance, if a country is not willing to perform a requested action, the country requesting that action may cut off all trade to the refusing country.”

Amy Williams, an Indiana State freshman, researched alliances.

“Alliances are formed at various times, some during war, others during times of peace, but no matter what the circumstances diplomacy is always involved,” she said.

Notre Dame freshman Mark Hockley’s written work was the most voluminous of all. He compiled a brief history of seven widely different governments, spanning over thousands of years.

“The history of government is the history of how people organize,” he concluded.

Ball State freshman Austin Durbin investigated famines, wars and other major events, and Smith freshman Catherine Housholder analyzed several cultural and religious situations.

Along the way, they picked up some honors, including winning the “Most Favored Nation” title at the Earlham College Model United Nations. The team represented the former Yugoslavia.

“Our team won ‘Most Favored Nation’ because of our diplomatic skills,” said Housholder. “We debated fairly and compromised often. We worked with others in order to achieve resolutions. Ambassadors who find a way to compromise and convince others will end up on top — or else alone.”

The team presented their Web site to several fifth-grade classes, the Indiana Social Studies Convention and many local clubs including Kendallville Rotary.

“The team’s understanding of foreign relations for a group of senior high school students was hard to believe, simply amazing,” commented Rotarian Brian Baker.

During their trip to Washington, the Kendallville and Tashkent teens privately toured the State Department and saw some of the sights, such as the Washington Monument, the Capitol and the White House. On the last day of the trip, they received their plaques and checks in the famous treaty room of the U.S. State Department.

Although the award and trip were exhilarating, the team would have been satisfied simply with their efforts to increase awareness about foreign relations in their community. The website features research about the five diplomatic factors, an interactive tutorial, a narrative of the creation of the project, interviews, articles, comments and essays from government and community leaders and foreigners.

“This colorful and quick-moving website will allow both novice and experienced students to use technology to its fullest advantage,” Waterson said, “or as Senator Evan Bayh wrote, ‘Technology is becoming more and more pervasive in this ever-changing world and its applications to foreign diplomacy are boundless, as shown by the creation of ‘The History of Foreign Relations.’”

The website’s beginning slide show immediately captures people’s attention with compelling scenes of people from all walks of life around the world. The pictures are emotional and can be interpreted on many levels. For example, look at the photograph of the mother, on the ground, being passed by soldiers. Do those soldiers represent the uncaring governments/leaders of the world? Do they represent people in faraway lands who are ignorant of people who are less fortunate than they are? Do they represent you?

Check out the Web site at www.elementblue.net to learn about the team and the history of foreign relations.