You are welcome whether you come from a large, small, urban, suburban, rural, public, private, parochial, charter, home school, or magnet. Each year, WAS participants represent a wide variety of schools and communities from the far corners of the globe.

In past years, approximately 20% of participants have been international students, most of whom just completed a year of study in a US or Canadian high school. These participants play a huge role by sharing their unique perspectives, traditions, cultures, and backgrounds.

Differing political, social and religious traditions meet on common neutral ground. From just curious to serious, you’ll find stimulating conversations with new friends…conversations which just may challenge and encourage you to want to find out more, to ‘check it out’…and to appreciate the validity of other points of view.

The goal of WAS is to open minds, and not to advocate a specific viewpoint. Conflicting and contrasting positions may follow each other…it will be up to you to decide. Your Global Forum group will be lively and challenging sessions as the group prepares its individual Position Paper for Thursday.

All work and no play is B-O-R-I-N-G…so you will find daily opportunities to enter into the WAS Games challenge tournaments; play some pickup volleyball, basketball, or soccer, go swimming in the Olympic sized university pool; jog…or just hang out and enjoy an early summer day in beautiful southern Wisconsin.

Be sure to bring your gear so you can participate in the ever popular Talent Show on Tuesday evening. You can sing, dance, play the piano, read poetry, be a stand up comic… almost anything goes. Find a few like-minded students and put a performance routine together.

The Advanced Section of WAS is specifically designed for returning participants. All previous participants who are still in high school are eligible. Advanced Seminar students will attend all expert lectures and documentary film sessions of the larger World Affairs Seminar.  They will also be invited to participate in the team-building exercises and social functions of the week's program.  They will serve as leaders of the Seminar process as is appropriate and supportive of their work.  Moreover, as returning students, they will have the benefit of gathering in an Advanced Seminar Discussion Group which will be lead by an expert Resident Scholar.  They will consider the work and issues more deeply and in a more focused way, and they will be asked to work together to create and present a significant response to the Seminar experience.

The 2009 Seminar is a must do event for those who want to make a difference by taking a leadership role in the next decade. From Peace Corps to Amnesty International, Foreign Service to local School Board, your time and effort at WAS will help YOU to decide. Put "WAS June 20-26" in your calendar. Download the application. Complete it now. We'll look forward to welcoming you in Whitewater next June 20th!