More than 30 students from 23 public affairs schools nationwide gathered at USC for the student competition on Feb. 28.
More photos from the competition are available on Flickr
The USC Price School of Public Policy served as the Western regional site for the first-ever national student simulation competition, presented by NASPAA, the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.
USC Price was one of five regional locations nationwide – including Indiana University, University at Albany – SUNY, University of Georgia and the University of Maryland – to take part in the Feb. 28 event.
Competing students were divided into teams and presented with a simulation related to a current health care policy problem facing local, state and federal legislators. Students applied their crosscutting skills learned in the classroom and considered a variety of intervention tactics, stakeholder needs and financial models toward devising a real-world fair solution.
At USC, Price graduate students Rhett-Alexander Paranay (Master of Public Policy/Master of Planning) and Kharaam Sharifpour (Master of International Public Policy and Management) were among 35 public affairs students representing 23 schools across the Western U.S. and Guam.
Sharifpour, along with her teammates from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, California State University-Los Angeles, and University of Colorado-Denver, were selected as the winning team of the West regional site competition.
The panel of judges at the regional site included: Michael Fisher, director of the VA Long Beach Healthcare System Medical Center; Yushim Kim, associate professor at the School of Public Affairs at the Arizona State University; and Mike Shires, associate professor of public policy at Pepperdine University.