If one day a student from Étude High School ends up in a diplomatic post or a high political office, it’s a safe bet they got a start at the World Affairs Seminar.

Four ÉHS students were selected as delegates for the June event at Carroll University, forming committees to explore the topic “Democracy and Governance: Evolving Global Perspectives.”

Juniors Koda Siebert and Juno Pasterski and sophomores Kai Mavity-Maddalena and Charlie Hamm joined students from all over the world to talk about the theory of democracy and how it plays out across the globe.

“We got to experience a lot of other cultures,” Siebert said. “We learned a lot more about democracy itself and how country-wide issues can be solved.”

Pasterski said learning about other countries and getting acquainted with international inspired them to keep up the momentum.

“Just learning about it from people from there, I would definitely say that I actually am learning about other countries now, I’m going out of my way now,” they said. “Which I didn’t do before. It’s kind of important to know what’s going on the world because you’re living in it.”

The ÉHS students were matched up with strangers, and they were even randomly assigned roommates for the weeklong event.

Politics was an ongoing topic, and the students said they learned a lot by listening to international students talk about the United States and its political climate.

In fact, the first presidential debate aired during the event, and a lot of the participants left a dance to huddle around a small TV to watch.

“We did talk a lot about political polarization,” Mavity-Maddalena said. “(The event) helped me with understanding how to look beyond labels and stereotypes. One (topic) focused on looking beyond baseline stereotypes of democrat or republican and be willing to listen to people and have constructive conversation without demonizing the other side.

That was a big lesson the students brought home.

“They were talking about living in an echo chamber, listening to people who have the same ideas as you,” Pasterski said. “I definitely struggle with that. I got a lot out of doing that: Did listening to other perspectives help me understand? Yeah. There’s a lot of things people just kind of hear and spew without really looking into it.”

The delegates worked together within their committees to solve problems that were assigned to them for their fictional nations. It was an inside look at diplomacy, and it made an impression.

Hamm said he was especially interested in the negotiating that took place between “countries.”

“We all kind of took on different roles, we had to collaborate,” he said. “I collaborated with Kai’s group a little bit and with other groups to reach consensus, develop almost like treaty.

In the end, the groups created a treaty, fended off internal dissent and reached agreement.

Siebert said the lessons he learned will stick with him.

“It opened my mind more,” he said. “Also helped me gain team-building skills.”