The eight member team from Indiana University South Bend recently placed third in the Midwest Model European Union regional conference at IUPUI. About 160 students from Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri participated and represented 22 of the 27 member states of the EU.

Three students received individual honors for their work. Kim Muncie of South Bend placed second as the economics minister of Bulgaria; Summers Hathaway, of South Bend, took third place as its agriculture minister; and Heather Scholine, of South Bend, placed third as the EU commissioner of consumer protection.

The other team members were: Thomas Njuguna, of South Bend; Andrea Pauwels, of Mishawaka; Colin Flora, of South Bend; Allison Dowell, of Elkhart; and Anthony Fanno, of Granger. For three days, IU South Bend students, representing Bulgaria (one of the newest member states of the EU), joined students from throughout the Midwest to make policies and to shape the future direction of the European Union.

The Midwest Model EU offers university students the opportunity to learn about the European Union and how it operates through a hands-on simulation of four of the major institutions of the European Union, including the European Council, the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the Commission Directors-General.

To prepare for the event, the eight students spent spring semester learning about their political characters, the policy positions of Bulgaria, the institutions of the European Union and its policy-making process. Based on their research, they drafted and submitted policy proposals to the "Conference Secretariat" in Indianapolis that were considered and debated during the exercise.

In addition to IU South Bend's team, 21 other delegations attended. Some of the participating teams were from Indiana University Bloomington, Grand Valley State University, Ball State University, Butler University, Western Michigan University and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

The "Best Delegation" award went to the Hungarian delegation from Drake University. IUPUI’s delegation, representing the country of Greece, received second place at the conference.

During spring semester, the IU South Bend students were enrolled in a European Politics Class, taught by Neovi Karakatsanis of the Department of Political Science. This summer, she will be directing an IU South Bend study abroad course on the European Union by taking students, including several who attended this year's Midwest Model EU, to Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg to visit some of the very institutions they studied for the event. Karakatsanis plans to take students to both the Midwest Model EU in Indianapolis and to Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg again in 2009.