For the second consecutive year, the Clinton School of Public Service served as an official host site for the NASPAA Student Simulation Competition, where five Clinton School students put their crisis management skills to the test.
Following a day of high-stakes deliberation on March 7, Clinton School students Alejandro Jorge and Pashion Israel emerged as members of the winning regional team.
Their team’s presentation and proposal have now been submitted to the national organization for the global round of the competition, where they will compete against winners from 12 other international host sites for the top prize.
In addition to the five Clinton School student competitors, Rachel Norris, Director of Domestic Programs, served as the on-site simulation coordinator, and Dr. Robert Richards, Associate Professor, served as one of three judges for the competition.
The Westmount Wildfire Simulation
The competition tasked students with creating a Community Wildfire Protection Plan for “Westmount,” a fictional mountain community identified as a high-risk region for wildland fires.
The competition, which is a collaboration between the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) and Forio, connects students from member schools worldwide in a synchronized, global event.
Students were assigned specific stakeholder roles, which ranged from Mayor to Water Manager to Fire Marshal, and had to work as teams while navigating competing interests in public safety, economic development, and environmental conservation.
“It was really exciting,” said Pashion Israel, a first-year Master of Public Service (MPS) student from Boiling Springs, South Carolina. “I didn’t go in with the mindset of winning. I just wanted the experience. Winning is a big bonus that lets us know we performed well in a high-pressure environment.”
Israel, who was unexpectedly reassigned to the role of Mayor after previously being assigned a different role, found herself at the center of the town’s toughest decisions.
“As mayor, I had to figure out a way to compromise between very opposing plans,” Israel said. “My primary responsibility was making sure my constituents’ needs were met, which often put me in disagreement with others regarding which mitigation methods would bring the most jobs to town.”
Applying the Classroom to the Crisis
The students credited their success to the foundational skills built in the Clinton School classroom. For Alejandro Jorge, a first-year MPS student from Washington, D.C., who served as a Water Authority Manager, the competition was an exercise in strategic communication and project management.
“Dr. Robert Richards’ communications class was the most helpful in helping us come to a consensus,” Jorge said. “The Program Design class was also very useful because we had to create our own Gantt charts (a project management tool that visually maps out a project schedule) as part of our wildfire mitigation plan. It was a fun day of crisis management roleplay.”
Other Clinton School participants, including Emily Temple, Sarita Poirrier, and Ali Dunbar, also navigated the complex simulation while competing on additional teams with graduate students from across the country.
Emily Temple, from Greenbrier, Arkansas, served as a Water Authority Manager and kept up with the fast-paced nature of the event by keeping mutual interests in mind.
“We constantly related our arguments back to these interests: protecting the people of Westmount from wildfires with minimal environmental damage,” Temple said. “My strategy did not change as the data evolved. The changing data merely changed how I made my arguments.”
Temple advised students looking to compete in next year’s competition to identify their non-negotiable priorities as well as areas of compromise prior to the start of negotiations.
“You will inevitably have to compromise, so it is good to know what you are willing to give up going into the simulation,” Temple said. “Determining your priorities helps with this.”
Sarita Poirrier, from Little Rock, served as the Mayor for her team and highlighted the importance of having a wide range of perspectives.
“I really enjoyed this experience because it gave me a rare opportunity to interact with students at public policy and public administration programs across the country,” Poirrier said. “Our approach demonstrated the importance of having diverse voices at the table when addressing issues that affect the public. While we had our own goals, we also ensured that every decision-maker was heard, could present their case, and was satisfied with the outcome of the decisions.”
A Future in Public Service
Whether or not they pursue careers in emergency management, the Clinton School students walked away with a sharpened professional toolkit.
For Jorge, the experience reaffirmed his interest in environmental work with the Forest or Park Service. For Israel, the simulation provided a new lens for her current Practicum project with the University of Arkansas System’s emergency management plan.
“I am used to seeing emergency management from an education perspective, but this exercise gave me a different viewpoint,” Israel said. “It was interesting to see how it’s conducted on a town scale rather than a university scale.”
The regional winning team now awaits the results from the global judges. Regardless of the outcome, the competition underscored the Clinton School’s commitment to experiential learning.
As Jorge advised future participants: “Have fun. It’s a great day to sharpen your skills and work with people who will try to talk their way in and out of anything. Even if you want different things, remember that all of you still have the same goal.”
About NASPAA: The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) is the global standard in public service education, serving as the accreditor for master’s degree programs in public policy and administration worldwide.