Diplomacy

We have all heard the many clubs that run after schools in the classrooms at Plymouth South. SADD, Philosophy, Future Educators and so on. But a new one has begun running this winter that few have heard about but has so far been a success. Diplomacy, run by Mr. McGinnis runs every friday afternoon.

What a way to fill your resume and start your weekend every week. Ever heard of the game risk? The goal of Diplomacy is extremely similar. The stage is Europe before WW1, but the war doesn’t matter, the students determine whose allied with who and who’s fighting with who.

Each team of students is assigned a European country and take turns writing out commands. The objective, take over the map. They have the choice to move fleets or armies into neighboring countries or form alliances, but in the end it’s every man, well, country for themselves.

The teams this year are Italy, run by Mike Delano and Makenna Rivera-Concannon, Austria Hungary headed by Kenneth Miller, Maeve Maloney, Jonah Perlow, and Andrew Hennessey, France run by Zac Corcoran, and Mark Fernez, Russia being lead by Mason Gagnier, Turkey by Jacob Sherman, the UK by Joe McGonagle, and Germany by myself, Dan Gilbert, and Victor Weppert.  

As put by Ken Miller, “It teaches people how life works, who to trust and who not to trust, it’s not so much about the game as it is about the interactions in the classroom”.

As the next few weeks unfolded the students saw who was really allies, and who was not.

Germany suffered a long and inevitable defeat. And Austria Hungary fell at the hands of Italy, Mike Delano triumphed through Europe with no mercy, and lots of back stabbing as the game requires.

The other countries are sitting ducks to theo take over Italy is after. Russia is on the brink of falling and Delano, leading Italy, is right now looking like the victor, but with Diplomacy we never know, and who doesn’t love an underdog making a sweeping comeback.

The school year is coming to an end and so is diplomacy. But when the doors reopen in the fall in a whole new building be sure to find out what room Mr. McGinnis is in so you can enter diplomacy, get your country together, and rule the world.