Model USDA student resources
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Mark your calendar for Model USDA
Please note the times below are in Arizona (AZ) time. Click here to check the current AZ time.
Day 1: January 31, 2025 at 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. AZ
Day 2: February 1, 2025 at 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. AZ
Day 3: February 2, 2025 at 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. AZ
Welcome
On this page, you’ll find Model USDA scenario and stakeholder assignments, as well as resources to review in advance of the event.
Working in the USDA or one of its agencies brings different challenges and opportunities, so we have created a few different role-playing scenarios to give you an inside look into how these organizations work. Some of these scenarios happen regularly, such as revising the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which occurs every five years. Some scenarios only happen when the legislative branch passes a bill and the executive branch signs it into law.
But the USDA doesn’t work in a silo; there are many voices that are trying to be heard! This is where the different stakeholders come into the role playing scenario. Some students will be playing the role of a USDA employee and some students will be playing the role of a director, CEO or lobbyist that wants to make sure their interests are being taken into account. Perhaps you’ll work for the dairy farmers, who want to see whole milk options in school lunchrooms. Or perhaps your role will be as a community organizer who wants to make sure their city can grow local produce in urban gardens.
Some of the roles will put students in the shoes of an expert who will be called upon to advise a USDA work group. Don’t feel like an expert? Don’t worry! Along with being assigned a scenario and a role as stakeholder, you will also receive a stakeholder roles document. This doc explains some of the history of the organization you work for and what kind of issues the organization sees as a priority. Also included is a short biography of someone who is either currently in that job or who recently held that job.
Scenarios
Scenario A: Healthy and sustainable Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Should the Dietary Guidelines for Americans break with decades of precedent and consider environmental sustainability for the first time ever?
Scenario B: Expanding nutrition education to schools nationwide
How can a new grant program best help schools bring nutrition education into the classroom?
Scenario C: Growing urban agriculture
What should USDA do to build a more diverse urban agriculture landscape?
Scenario D: Investing in rural America
How can USDA most effectively invest millions in funding to support rural development?
Find your scenario
Click the link below to see which scenario and stakeholder role you’ve been assigned by searching for your name.
In addition to reading the resources provided to you, we encourage you to learn more about your role by doing some research on your own. Look up interviews of the person who currently holds the role you have been assigned. What’s important to them? Are there certain policies that would negatively impact their organization? Do they want more assistance from the USDA, or more funding, or do they want less government oversight or inspections?
Open Forum speech submission
As noted in your Scenario Brief, every student in Model USDA is expected to submit a written copy of their one-minute Open Forum speech by January 27, 2025. Submission is mandatory.
Please rehearse your speech’s timing prior to submission! Speeches will be presented during the Open Forum portion of Day 1. All remarks will be capped at one minute per person. Speakers will be muted if they go over the time limit.
Standout student awards
Within each scenario, up to three students will be voted on by their peers as “standout students.” Winners will be announced during the Closing Ceremony, celebrated publicly, and awarded a sustainable food-inspired gift.
Standout students shine in terms of:
- Preparation. Student was well-prepared for Model USDA, as evidenced by the quality of their Open Forum speech, familiarity with the scenario topic, and knowledge of their assigned stakeholder role.
- Participation. Student embraced their assigned stakeholder role and played it convincingly. They appeared engaged, spoke persuasively, acted strategically, and listened actively.
- Collaboration. Student embodied the “Rules of the Road,” and collaborated in a way that was productive, strategic, and respectful.
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