ACT hosts diplomatic training simulation

A group of students from Anatolia and Pinewood gathered at the Bissell Library on Saturday, February 11, to take part in a simulation of A100, the training course all new American diplomats take at the US Foreign Service Institute. The students did exercises in public speaking, note taking, and cable drafting, all of which were designed to refine techniques for understanding and communicating the essence of a verbal exchange. Students were then divided into two groups and given the task of planning for an event, namely the annual celebration of July 4 at the US Embassy in Manama, Bahrain. The two teams presented their plans and critiqued each other. Individual students from the groups were then interviewed by the simulation staff, whose number included David Wisner, Stelios Kelaiditis, and Constantinos Constandinidis, to determine their first “posts” in the foreign service. The simulation concluded with the presentation of the flags of the countries to which the students were posted. The simulation of diplomatic training was the first of several planned activities in the context of ACT’s annual Diplomatic Academy, organized under the auspices of the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service.