Affiliated Lecturer Jeffrey Trimble participated on the Control Team for the sixth Ohio State National Security Simulation, held on campus on Nov. 3-4. Sponsored by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, the “Sim” is a large-scale interdisciplinary professional skills training exercise. It involves the interaction of approximately 200 students from Ohio State and other universities and practitioners from legal, military, intelligence, policy, political, communications and business management backgrounds to produce decision-making that determines the outcomes of scenarios that are based on current events in the United States and around the world. The Sim – held every other year – is the creation of Dakota Rudesill, an associate professor at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law.

Trimble, an international journalist, editor and media manager for more than 35 years, helped to write the Sim’s scenarios and served as the “communications czar” with overall responsibility for students participating as journalists at “The Torch” (the Sim’s online media outlet) and in strategic communications roles for government and private sector entities.

“The role of media and strategic communications is so central in the functioning of our society,” Trimble said. “It's crucial that these elements be front and center, fully employed, in order to make the Sim a success.”

Student participants directly apply their coursework and other experiences as they work alongside practitioner players in top government and private sector roles including U.S. president, secretary of state, U.S. senators, newspaper editors and corporate CEOs.

School of Communication undergraduates Brianne Blevins and Nora Igelnik were staff reporters at “The Torch,” and Hunter Diem served as spokesperson for the Senate Majority Leader. They were joined by student journalists and strategic communicators from Ohio University, Purdue University and University of Dayton. 

Five professional journalists – all former OSU students or graduates – served as editors of “The Torch”: Philip Bump, Marilyn Geewax, Bella Czajkowski, Jack Long, and Sam Raudins. Over the course of the two days, “The Torch'' published 72 stories and four student-written player profiles; student strategic communicators produced dozens of press releases and conducted numerous press briefings. Together the student journalists and strategic communicators produced hundreds of social media postings.

“The aim is to get students to roll up their sleeves and get to work,” said Trimble. “There’s no time to train and prepare – as in real life, they must deal with challenges as they arise, armed with the knowledge and skills that they have. It’s a demanding two days, but the students really came through – and had fun doing so.”