Virginia Tech Model EU Pilot Program Announced at Tallwood HS

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A pilot model European Union program run by the Virginia Tech Center for European and Transatlantic Studies was unveiled Wednesday at Tallwood High School.

After the successful implementation of the Model EU program in the Blacksburg area, Virginia Tech decided to pilot it in Virginia Beach, sponsored by Tallwood’s Global Studies and World Language Academy.

Both Tallwood High School and Ocean Lakes High School participated in the event, where students collaborated, negotiated, and drafted their own resolutions on the use of artificial intelligence and solid immigration policies across the European Union. We role-played the 27 countries of the European Union. EU.

The event began with Belgian Ambassador to the United States Jean-Arthur Regibault giving remarks via Zoom and encouraging students to maintain an interest in politics.

Virginia Tech’s Model EU Program was developed in 2019and each spring, we host a two-day large-scale discussion event on the university’s Blacksburg campus for middle school and high school students from the New River Valley and Roanoke Valley regions of southwestern Virginia.

The first year started with just 70 high school students in a large school and expanded to five schools and 130 students in 2023. Teachers meet in the fall of each school year and are led by the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies (CEUTTSS). ) staff will coordinate the spring event held in March.

The program expanded to Southeastern Virginia this year, with additional CEUTTSS affiliated educators assisting center staff and coordinating spring conferences for local schools in the area.

Next year, the center plans to expand its events to include Richmond and the Central Virginia metropolitan area.

The center’s medium-term expansion goal beyond 2025 is to hold a fourth regional conference on the Virginia Tech campus in northern Virginia, with a culminating debate in which the top schools from all four regions compete in the final debate of the Council of the European Union. It is to hold a meeting.