Students from KDI School of Public Policy and Management demonstrated their exceptional skills and expertise by excelling in the recent NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition held in Vietnam. The competition brought together students from various NASPAA-accredited schools in Asia to simulate real-world challenges in forest management and crisis decision-making. The KDI team's outstanding performance reflected their dedication, collaboration, and comprehensive preparation.

[Photo] Joint photo of KDIS students at the NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition, Vietnam

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Harveen Ang, Vickjune Excel Wutoh, and Yeonwook Kang, members of the KDI School team that emerged victorious in the 2023 NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition. They will share their experiences, challenges, and the support they received from KDI School throughout their journey.

Can you describe the competition?

Harveen Ang: The KDIS team, composed of KDIS students, was shuffled into different groups, so that each group had members from the different NASPAA accredited schools in Asia. The NASPAA Competition was entirely based on a game that one of the professors from NASPAA designed. For each team, each member played a role in the fictitious forest community. My role was the district forest ranger, and my other teammates were assigned other roles, such as the water service manager and mayor. 

Our goal was to get as many points as we could base on the activities we did in certain zones of the forest. As the forest ranger, one of my key roles was to designate certain zones for controlled burning because too much foliage in the forest can start a forest fire. Thus, doing controlled burning will prevent future forest fires. (Although counterintuitive, by burning parts of the forest, forest fires are prevented.) However, for the others in the team, they may want to designate the area as a no burning zone because it is beside the river, and we need higher quality water, or we need a more diverse economy, so we can turn it into a tourist zone. Choosing what to tradeoff is the decision of the team. 

[Photo] Joint photo of KDIS students and students from other universities at the NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition, Vietnam

Each role received points based on how close the map was to the ideal zone map of the role (i.e, a ranger’s ideal map is to do controlled burning to almost the whole forest) and criteria only the judges and organizers know. The team with the most points wins. The final score also includes points from the judges, who ask questions each round about team dynamics and forest management, and from the final presentation on what each team did to solve the scenarios in each round.

What were some of the challenges you faced?

One challenge was the time pressure per round, negotiating with teammates within the time limit, and answering questions from the judges once they came to ask questions. Furthermore, I had to negotiate with my teammates within the time limit, while we did what is best given a certain scenario and answered the questions from the judges once they came to us to ask questions. 

To be honest, doing this for five rounds with only a lunch break after the third round was mentally exhausting. (I was drained by the end of the game.) The second challenge was our discussion on what tradeoffs to make. Because we did not know how many points we had after each round, we did not know whether the tradeoffs we were making each round were earning us more points or not. 

[Photo] Joint photo of students at the NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition, Vietnam

Although we had gauges on the site of the game where we could see the water quality, forest quality, happiness of citizens, and other metrics, it was hard to know if our team was getting a good score by having very highwater quality, but only moderate forest quality. To face these challenges, I counted on my teammates, and we made very careful and necessary decisions together to come through.  

Vickjune Excel Wutoh: The competition was a platform to learn, grow, and network. We had to make careful and necessary decisions together to come through the challenges.

What motivated you to participate in this competition?

Harveen Ang: We were motivated to participate in the NASPAA competition because it is an international competition where we can learn from and compete with students from other countries, which we believed could help us to grow professionally and academically.

What was your experience like preparing for the competition? How did you and your team prepare?

Harveen Ang: To prepare for the competition, Professor Lee Junesoo taught us some common and novel professional tools used in public policy to organize a team’s thoughts and ideas about an issue. He encouraged and guided us in all the ways that he could. We also contacted our teammates from other schools on social media to discuss our roles early on and build rapport with each other. When we met in person in Vietnam, we planned out how we would handle each round of the competition. 

[Photo] Joint photo of KDIS students at the NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition, Vietnam

I thought of Professor Lee as our coach, giving us the work plans, strategies, and tips that we could use, so that, even if our teammates on the day of the NASPAA competition came from different backgrounds, we would not have difficulty with communication and planning.  For instance, while using a specific tool, I worked with the rest of my KDI teammates in coming up with ideas on forest management and handling forest fires. With n that tool, we considered the different stakeholders of the community and what they would do before, during, and after a forest fire. This worked like a simulation of what we could have faced on the day of the competition.

Days before the competition, my teammates from the other schools and I contacted each other on a social media app. We discussed our roles early on and got to build rapport with each other. When we met each other in person in Vietnam the day before the competition, we planned out how we would handle each round of the competition. 

For each round of the game, we allocated some time to convey the information that we privately received at the start of each round. Hence, we were very transparent with each other even if it would mean serious tradeoffs in the negotiation phase of our discussion. Afterwards, we would bargain with each other on what final plan of action to take based on the situation per round. 

How did you feel about representing your school in an international competition?

Marina: Representing KDI School in an international competition was a tremendous honor and a source of pride. It provided an opportunity to showcase our  skills, knowledge, and talent in a global competition and to compete with some of the best and brightest minds from around the world.  

[Photo] Joint photo of students at the NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition, Vietnam

It was also a valuable learning experience, as it exposes participants to different cultures, ideas, and approaches to problem-solving. Overall, representing KDI School in an international competition was a challenging yet rewarding experience that left a lasting impact on me.

Vickjune Excel Wutoh: I felt great and I see this as a lifetime achievement I will uphold in high esteem.

What did you learn from this experience? Did it change your perspective on anything?

Vickjune Excel Wutoh: The NASPAA competition to me was a platform to learn, grow, and network. The NASPAA competition taught us how to work with different people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. It also taught us how to adapt and work under pressure while making decisions. The competition did change our perspective on the importance of networking and the value of teamwork in achieving a common goal.

Marina: I had the very exciting opportunity to compete in the 2023 NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition. The simulation competition taught me a lot about crisis management and decision-making in a high-pressure environment. It was an opportunity to work collaboratively with other students from different nationalities, applying our knowledge and skills to a real-world scenario. What I really liked was the adrenaline rush of trying to contain the wildfire while also ensuring the safety of the public. My role as mayor gave me the opportunity to learn about the importance of inclusive community engagement for development.

How did your school support you in preparing for and participating in the competition?

Yeonwook Kang: For me, I cannot imagine learning the many things that I did from Vietnam without KDI School’s invaluable support.  

They supported us not only financially but also gave us educational support and additional training for the competition. 

First, KDI School supported a specific part of the topic. Before representing KDI School, Professor Junsoo Lee checked candidates’ presentations and after deciding to be a representative, he used his personal time for team members to approach the competition more seriously. His major is public administration. As a result, I could get new perspectives from a public sector viewpoint. 

[Photo] KDIS student at the NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition, Vietnam

Secondly, KDI School supports the best education for its students. I am sure that I could communicate and share my knowledge in Vietnam because of my previous study in KDI School. Because our topic was wildfire, a lot of people think we should think about how to prevent it by policy. However, I think about different sections, based on the citizen, because all the social problems have stakeholders, and we need to have a solution in the complicated situations. Luckily, my research interest is “Public Policy”. Thinking about the classes I have taken at KDIS, I think Professor Selki Choi’s “Population and Development” class and Joeun Kim’s “Social Inequality” class helped a lot with this competition. As we know, this competition might have been about a wildfire, but I think the hidden topic was how to communicate and how to support the community residents. Without these classes, it might be hard to think about what the citizens want and ignore all the stakeholders, such as those living in low income areas.

Finally, BK Lee (Head of the Learning Innovation Division) supported the financial part of the trip. Without the Learning Innovation Division’s support, I would have needed to waste my time booking flights and places to stay. Su-min Kim, the staff member of the Learning Innovation Division who directed our team members in Vietnam, was especially helpful Although we were in Vietnam, she didn’t take personal time and stayed with us to cheer us on Without her support, I don’t think we would have returned with such a nice result from Vietnam. 

[Photo] Joint photo of students at the NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition, Vietnam

The NASPAA Wildfire Simulation Competition proved to be a platform for learning, growth, and networking for the KDIS students. Vickjune Excel Wutoh recognized the competition's value in terms of personal development and expanding their professional connections. Marina acknowledged that the experience broadened her understanding of crisis management, decision-making, and the importance of inclusive community engagement for development, exemplified by her role as mayor in the competition.

KDI School played a pivotal role in supporting the students' preparation and participation in the competition. Professor Junsoo Lee provided guidance and gave his personal time to ensure the team approached the competition with a serious and well-rounded perspective from a public sector standpoint.