S-CAR Welcome Dinner
The S-CAR Annual Welcome Dinner is a wonderful way to welcome incoming students and to kick off the new academic year. As a new student, it was very exciting to see a crowd - made up of faculty, staff, students, and friends and family of the S-CAR community - gather on a rainy Saturday night to celebrate this very important event. In his addeess to the attendees gathered, Interim Dean Solon Simmons emphasized the importance of the S-CAR community in setting trends now being mirrored by the rest of the George Mason University community. He concluded his remarks by urging the new cohort to continue with this tradition and even surpass these accolades that were bringing so much recognition to the efforts of S-CAR in promoting peace throughout the world. As a recent addition to this community, his remarks were inspiring as it challenged myself and the other individuals in my cohort to build upon the successes of the program and take it to newer and greater heights, a task that I am sure everyone present was willing to take on. The high point of the evening showed a further testament to the importance of students to the S-CAR community as numerous awards were given to students for oustanding work in the field of conflict analysis and resolution. Seeing the number of awards, the diversity of foci, and the diversity of students who received them drew my attention to the breadth and scope of the S-CAR community and discipline as a whole. I am very proud to call myself a member of this community.