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A14 LOCAL
Wednesday 4 december 2019
The Organization, Governance and Management Students of University Aruba:

Different Aspects of Sustainability, Governance and Public

Administration in Washington, DC

ORANJESTAD —The biennial educational trict of Columbia - School of Business and increasing the level of education and/or improving the
excursion of the University of Aruba takes Public Administration, the Inter-American economies of the countries involved. The IDB consists of
students to Washington, D.C. to experi- Development Bank, the Center for Strate- 48 shareholders, including Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
ence firsthand how they can make a dif- gic and International Studies, Capitol Hill, Their yearly budget to support other countries is approxi-
ference in Aruba in sustainability, gover- Cannon House Office Building, Library of mately twelve billion dollars. Kuil also discussed codes of
nance and public management by visit- Congress and more. Throughout the week conduct, ethics, and integrity when working in an orga-
ing various prominent institutions. the students also had the opportunity of nization. Such as the importance of knowing what to do
meeting some outstanding people, for and the choices you need to make when being in cer-
A few weeks ago, students of the Orga- example, Maureen Bunyan, Joselin Croes, tain difficult work situations. All in all, the visit was a very
nization, Governance & Management Bjorn Kuil, Wade Henderson and a handful interesting and knowledgeable one, especially because
program of the University of Aruba had more inspiring guest speakers. of all the information the students received.
the opportunity to take an educational
exchange to Washington, D.C. The excur- Inter-American Development Bank University of the District of Columbia’s – Food Hubs
sion consisted of twenty students, three A visit that stood out was when the stu- During their visit to the University of the District of Colum-
lecturers and a week of unforgettable dents visited the Inter-American Develop- bia, students were given a presentation by the dean of
memories. The excursion took place Octo- ment Bank, where the students received the College of Agriculture and Urban Sustainability and
ber 19th through October 26th, 2019, and a tour of the main building, followed by a Environmental Sciences (CAUSES), Sabina O’Hara. Dur-
comprised of an educational and inspira- lecture from Kuil. Kuil is the Senior Coun- ing her presentation, she challenged the students to think
tional schedule. The theme of this trip was selor of the Dutch Representative for the about the importance of being good stewards of the
to learn about Governance, Diversity, and organization. He spoke about what the resources our planet is offering. Many countries, such as
Sustainability in Public Administration Edu- organization IDB does, which is to provide Aruba, must import their food. This could lead to a de-
cational programs and Civic Participation. financial aid to underdeveloped countries cline in the nutritional value of the food because of the
Everyday consisted of visits to important in need and assisting them in achieving long distances the food travels before it reaches its desti-
international organizations, such as the sustainable development goals. The finan- nation before it is consumed. Many times, food needs to
Dutch Embassy, the University of the Dis- cial support that IDB provides is focused on be treated with certain chemicals to remain fresh upon
arrival. The clean and sanitary environment is also very
important when storing food. There are some issues in
growing your food, such as a lack of space where people
can grow their food. A solution to this problem can be to
grow our food vertically, using the space on buildings for
instance. To achieve this, one must consider the capac-
ity of such a building to be able to hold the weight of the
soil needed to grow the fruits and vegetables. A proper
drip irrigation system is also be needed for the proper sup-
ply of water, while the heat from the building itself can
contribute to the growth of the food. This system can help
farmers grow their food and distribute it to different parts
of the country.

The Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the federal ju-
diciary of the United States. On the main entrance to the
Supreme Court Building, there is written “Equal Justice
Under Law”. These words illustrate the ultimate responsi-
bility of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court consists
of eight associate Chief justice nominated by the Presi-
dent of the United States. The Supreme Court offers tours
to public proportions of the building. The OGM students
had the once in a lifetime opportunity of visiting a court-
room lecture. The courtroom lectures are led by a trained
volunteer teacher and the purpose of the courtroom
lecturesare to inform the visitors about the judicial func-
tions, the architecture of the courtroom, and the history
of the building. Furthermore, the Supreme Court court-
room cases are available for the public. The courtroom
cases are called Oral arguments, they last about one
hour, and each side is allowed to argue for 30 minutes
each in court. The first 50 peopleinside can witness the
entire session. However, the people who donot obtain a
secured seat can walk through. Two lines form in front of
the Supreme Court outside prior to the Oral arguments.
In some cases, people will line up days in advance to se-
cure a seat. All in all, the OGM students got an in-depth
view and description of the Supreme Court which was an
inspiration for the students studying Governance.

Another highlight of the trip was when the students and
lecturers took a hop on and hop off night tour of the
amazing touristic sites. The students got to see and take
pictures of places like the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Lu-
ther King Memorial, the World War Two Memorial, Capitol
Hill, the White House and much more. It is safe to say, that
this educational excursion provided by the Organization,
Governance and Management program at the Univer-
sity of Aruba is a field trip definitely worth experiencing.q