El Paso, Texas'Today, the World Affairs Council of the North American Borderplex'a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting international thinking and connecting the region with global affairs dialogues and issues'held the region's first ever Borderplex Academic WorldQuest competition at El Paso Community College. Over 30 teams representing high schools from across El Paso County, Las Cruces, Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City participated in this inaugural competition for the Council.
Academic WorldQuest is a flagship program of the national World Affairs Councils of America, which examines high school students' knowledge of international affairs issues'ranging from privacy in the digital age to NATO and even the Sultanate of Oman. Students were provided with a guide consisting of 10 critical global affairs and U.S. foreign policy issues to study for the competition, along with a briefing book, which explored these issues further.
"Having these many teams compete in our region's first ever competition sends a strong message to the national World Affairs Council of America" said Rolando Pablos, Chief Executive Officer of The Borderplex Alliance who helped launch the local Council last year. "It shows that our students and community care about international affairs and global issues and that we should be part of these critical discussions as they are happening domestically and abroad."
The competition marked the first time that teams from outside of the United States have participated in Academic WorldQuest, making it the first binational competition in the history of Academic WorldQuest.
"We're excited that the Borderplex Academic WorldQuest competition got off to such a great start in and even more impressed that the competition was able to recruit teams from Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City," said Bill Clifford, WACA President and CEO. "It infuses a new spirit to the competition, which after all, is about cultivating global thinking among students, but here you have a scenario where international decisions and interactions happen every day."
After 10 rounds of competition, the Franklin Cougars from Franklin High School in El Paso took home the honor of being the region's first reigning champions of Borderplex Academic WorldQuest.
- The Las Cruces Bulldogs (Las Cruces High School) placed second
- PrepaITESM Juarez (Tecnologico de Monterrey) placed third
- Coronado Thunderbirds (Coronado High School) placed fourth
- Troopers 4 (Eastwood High School) placed fifth
The winning team from today's competition will go to Washington D.C. to compete in The Carlos and Mal+
