Political Science Students Represent UCF at Model Senate
From Right to Left: Linda Escobar, Jenna Brookmyer, Nathan Ilderton, Travis Grover, Gianna Paniagua.
At the end of spring semester, four UCF students in the political science department joined other students from across the nation for the 46th annual Floyd M. Riddick Model United States Senate, located at Stetson University in Deland, FL. This is the first time in many years that UCF sent representatives to the model Senate. Lecturer Nathan Ilderton, Ph.D., who specializes on Congress, was the faculty adviser of the student group. He led the team as they prepared and participated in the event.
For three days, the students assumed the roles of specific United States senators and performed their duties in model committee meetings, caucuses and floor sessions.
“It takes a lot of preparation to participate in the model Senate if you want to do it well,” said Ilderton. “I am very proud of the hard work that each of our model senators put into preparing for the event. UCF was well represented.”
Four students participated: Jenna Brookmyer, Gianna Paniagua, Linda Escobar and Travis Grover. Grover was recognized with the ‘Best Senator’ award for his depiction of Florida Senator Bill Nelson. After this initial success, Ilderton hopes to open this opportunity to more students and grow the team for next year.