Navigating the Crisis Simulation: Team USA Review

By Madelyn Williams

The Spring Crisis Simulation is one of the most anticipated events at the Patterson School.
Every year we wargame a different scenario that pertains to real world events. It is useful
because it lets us practice what we have learned in class and apply it to real world scenarios.
This year we covered the Russian-Ukraine war and were divided into delegations from countries
that are key players in this conflict, including Russia, Ukraine, the United States, the European
Union, Turkey, and China. The delegation that I led was Team USA. We had a fun but
precarious position in the simulation. Part of the difficulty that my team had was balancing what
the US administration was saying in real time with what we were doing in the simulation. There
were many instances where we would read news about the US administration making foreign
policy decisions and I had to remind my team that it does not pertain to us. In addition to that,
some of our first meetings were to diplomatically smooth tensions, as many of the delegations
started the simulation with animosity toward the US.

As leader of the US delegation, it was my job to balance the various foreign policy perspectives
of my team and remind people of our goals. I had people from both sides of the aisle, some
were hawks, some doves. It made it difficult to keep a consistent message to other delegations
when our relations changed depending on whom they talked to. The US delegation also had two
spies, one for Russia and one for Turkey. This made it frustrating at times, but in the grand
scheme of things, the spies did not produce the negative effect they thought they would. As
Patterson students part of our job is to understand US politics and foreign policy, so for the most
part people were on mission.

As Head of Delegation I played a key role in the negotiations. I enjoyed being team USA
because I could be brash one moment, and then cooperative the next. In negotiations I let
people try to convince me that they needed the US, remaining quiet but being perceptive. I was
told by several delegations that they perceived this as intimidating which I thought fit the role. As
a team we played our part well and brought the Russians and Ukrainians to a ceasefire and
worked with other delegations to provide economic and humanitarian aid. We convinced Russia
and Ukraine to begin peace talks when the (simulated, placed in a negotiation) bomb went off,
killing several and injuring both me and another US delegate. Though I was out of physical
negotiations I continued to work keeping my team together and mitigate the oncoming fall out. I
learned many things including how to lead a team that has vastly different perspectives, to work
through adversity, and how to better enhance my negotiation skills. I am proud of my team and
the work we accomplished. We came in with clear redlines and managed to accomplish the
majority of them.