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How was the Cape Town International Youth in Nuclear Conference (IYNC) meeting?
To quote Kansas State student and attendee Sam Brinton– “Amazing.”
Nothing compares to breaking free from the northern hemisphere for the first time to attend your first global youth in nuclear conference. South Africa was a wonderful host for this international meeting which focused on building international collaboration and understanding for young professionals and students in nuclear science and technology.
Many of the North American delegates arrived to Cape Town on Sunday, July 11th. That’s right World Cup fans… We were in South Africa for the World Cup finals. What could be a better way to begin a week long international journey, than by joining together with global visitors to watch the final game from the massively populated “fan centers” that were placed in Cape Town for everyone who didn’t actually have tickets for the final game. For those of us who were less than diligent with keeping up with the World Cup, the Vuvuzela horns stole the show.
After the excitement died down from the World Cup, the North American delegates were able to bond with the rest of the international delegates during a day of team building. The team building consisted of a series of IYNC games developed to make diverse teams compete on a physical, intellectual and on a teamwork levels. Teams competed in six competitions that included a very competitive 3 step jump, a wicked variation of jacks that used marbles, a nuclear themed knowledge game, learning and executing the uniquely South African Diski dance, blowing the Vuvuzela, team jump roping, and puzzle solving.
Little did the North American delegates know that the Diski Dance would not only become a center point of cultural awareness for the entire conference, but our own Communication Chair and USA Representative to IYNC, Misha Swanson would become an expert. Representing the North American bid to host the 2012 conference, Misha performed a dance-off of the Diski dance against the Japanese and UK bid leads during the opening reception.
Wednesday nights’ cultural event was dinner at a South African winery. Attendees were stuffed full of traditional African cuisine including Springbok Antelope, Ox and Ostrich. The evening’s cultural awareness included an introduction to Zulu cultural. Attendees were all adorned with traditional Zulu face painting and were introduced to traditional Zulu dancing. Once the educational portion of the evening was complete, North American delegates led the Diski dance kick-off to the night of dancing. Craig Albers (Fluor), Rick Molenhouse (Exelon) and Sam Brinton (Kansas State) all danced like mad men along with European Young Generation Chairman, Edouard Hourcade.
For me, Thursday was the big day… Technical presentations and workshops continued during the day, but I was waiting for the IYNC board meeting. During the board meeting, I helped to co-present the North American bid to host the 2012 IYNC conference in Charlotte North Carolina. I can honestly say I am glad I didn’t have to decide between the three bids. The Japanese’s suggested conference theme of “Young professionals dedicating themselves to a lifetime of non-proliferation and technical tours of the memorial at Hiroshima” and the UK’s fantastic cultural prospects of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London were tough pitches to follow. In the end, Charlotte’s unique bid feature of embedding a professional development track of strategic planning into the normally technical IYNC schedule won the board’s favor. Once the decision was official, the North American delegation proceeded to stay-up into the wee hours of the night face book posting, emailing and skyping with colleagues all through North America to tell them the news.
I do not want to leave out the most important aspect of our free time in Cape Town. What most of us North American’s did with our free time was shop, shop, shop. And what did we shop for, we were shopping for Vuvuzelas. I’m pretty sure the North American delegates can open a Vuvuzela store with the number of those horns we brought back with us. These horns make a lot of noise and go perfectly with the Diski dance and the conference theme song of Waka Waka by Shakira.
The Charlotte planning team will have to work hard to make the international delegates feel as warm and welcomed as the South Africans did this year. The conference truly was “Amazing” and I cannot wait to attend the 2012 joint IYNC/NA-YGN conference in Charlotte.
