Ford Institute members Aaron Glenn, '07, and David Brandt, '07, at Texas A&M University, were each part of an award-winning roundtable during the 2006 Student Conference on National Affairs. Photo courtesy of Aaron Glenn.

Tomorrow's National Policy -- Today
Ford Institute Students David Brandt, ’07, and Aaron Glenn, ’07, Win Awards at Student Conference on National Policy
Posted Friday, April 28, 2006

In a gathering of the country’s brightest government and public policy students, Ford Institute members David Brandt and Aaron Glenn focused some admirable attention on Albion College. At the 2006 Student Conference on National Affairs (SCONA), held last month at Texas A & M University, Brandt was a member of the team receiving the award for Best Written Policy, while Glenn’s team won the award for Best Overall Policy.

With Albion students on two of the three award-winning teams at the conference, “participants were wondering: where in the world is Albion College? I need to get more information on them,” said Ford Institute director Thomas Padgett.

“You hit the ground running,” said Brandt of the conference. “We listened to the keynote speaker, then got in our groups and worked as fast as we could for three days.” Brandt and his roundtable of peers quickly decided to write a policy paper arguing that the U.S. should develop closer ties with Brazil and its ethanol industry, in order to lessen U.S. dependence on foreign fuels.

“On the final day, the computer we had our paper on was accidentally given to another A&M student,” Brandt recalled. “Someone found the computer and we added the pieces we had done separately and had just enough time to read it once before we turned it in for judging. That was a dramatic moment.”

Glenn’s roundtable, in winning Best Policy, argued that the U.S. should look to support political reform and offer aid to the Middle East through supporting foreign aid efforts made by other countries. “When aid comes from other countries, it’s not seen as being part of the U.S. agenda,” he explained. “With so many American companies doing business in other countries, anything that helps other countries should help American interests too.”

Like Brandt, Glenn enjoyed the conference in more than one way. “Going to the conference was a nice way to merge what I’ve done in the Gerstacker and Ford institutes,” he said. “It was also a chance to meet people from other parts of the country and get a whole different idea of political culture outside of Albion. At Albion, I’m considered moderately liberal, but in my roundtable, I was one of two very liberal members. But we created a close bond in my group, and I still talk to the other members even today.”