Operation Exit Iraq

It's been an exceptionally busy week here at Ross Associates.

There was the big primary election for mayor, city council, judges, commissioners and a couple of other minor offices, which we'll all be blogging about later. We are a team overloaded with political junkies, and each of us served in various capacities for the election effort, various candidates, and the local media, so the entire analysis is taking some time to assemble. It will be available for your viewing pleasure next week, but in the meantime, have a look at one of the other projects that occupied our efforts this past week.

On Thursday, May 17, our intrepid Director of Communications Heidi Gold, Queen of Events, put together a fabulous forum on behalf of our client Girard College. The kids of Girard had put together an eight-point foreign policy plan to begin the strategic withdrawal of our troops from Iraq a couple of months ago. That plan so impressed the administration (and us) that we decided to put together a forum as a means for the students to hash out the plan, and have it heard by important experts on foreign policy.

Girard College, it should be mentioned, is a grade 1 through 12 private boarding school here in Philadelphia for children from single parent households with limited finances. If yesterday's forum was any indication, the only limitations these kids have are financial. They were brilliant! They invited students from other schools to help flesh out the plan, and presented each of the plan's eight points to a distinguished panel that included CN8 TV anchor Greg Coy, Professor of Islamic Studies Adnan Zulfiqar, State Representative and Iraq War veteran Brian Lentz, and congressional staffer Ron Goldwyn. The forum was moderated by Ozzie Wright, principal of West Philadelphia High School and himself a veteran of both Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The students broke up into individual groups to discuss their particular point, then came together to present their findings and recommendations to the panel, and the packed room.
It wasn't an easy pat on the head, either. The panel, Middle East experts all, asked tough questions of the students, and treated them as serious scholars - which, it turns out, they are.

There was also a guest speaker, United Nations representative Hamid Abdeljaber, who kept the audience riveted for 45 minutes, no easy task when the subject is foreign policy and about 75 percent of the audience is made up of high schoolers. Abdeljaber's mix of humor, horror, and interesting anecdotes were a hit with young and old alike. Having spent much of his career in the Middle East, narrowly escaping death at the hands of terrorists, and watching U.S. policy unfold in Iraq firsthand, Abdeljaber made the war human for the students - that wars aren't casualties, body counts and collateral damage, but people, mostly regular people just like them, caught in the whirlwind of politics, nationalism and self-interest.

It was a great day for Girard College, their partner schools who participated in the forum, and everyone who attended. The panelists and the audience were blown away by the students' level of research and critical thinking, and came away thinking differently about the war, and about U.S. foreign policy. As one of the students said so passionately, "We have to begin to see with eyes of hope, not eyes of hate." Amen to that.

Anyway, our heartfelt thanks as an organization go out to the Honorable Dominic Cermele, President of Girard College; to Zuki McLaughlin, without whose tireless assistance the forum would not have been possible; to the panelists and participants kind enough to donate their time and expertise, and of course, to the students who became teachers and foreign policy experts.

Privately, we would be remiss without yet another hearty slap on the back to our Director of Communications. Heidi really takes these projects to heart, pouring every ounce of herself into these events, and for weeks until the big day arrives she frets, worries, paces the floor and regularly sets her hair on fire over every little detail. She routinely does the most work while accepting the least amount of credit, and Ross Associates would probably crumble to the ground without her.

If you're looking for more information about Operation Exit Iraq, have a look at the Yahoo! Groups list serv, which kept everyone informed about the goings on: Operation Exit Iraq List Serv

And please check out this article by noted Daily News columnist Elmer Smith, who attended the forum pretty much from start to finish. Elmer's Column