If you have kept up with the latest news lately, chances are you have heard of the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. It is a major problem sweeping the world, with many different countries and organizations trying to aid the humanitarian crisis. Mary Berg ’16 devoted her leadership scholar project to this difficult issue in today’s world.

Berg’s driving question was as follows: “What is the origin of the Syrian refugee crisis, and what has the global response been to this complex political and humanitarian crisis?”

The Syrian refugee crisis dates back to the events of the Arab Spring in 2011. The multiple revolutions and wars that came in the wake of the Arab Spring made the Middle East a very unstable area. The effects of the revolutions can be distinctly seen in the regions of Syria and Iraq. The civil war in Syria began during the Arab Spring, and has grown increasingly more complex since then. Now, many different nations, the United States included, are involved in Syrian affairs. Unfortunately, this confusion and instability also led terrorist groups like Hezbollah and ISIS to stake claims in the region.

The human tragedy of this war is significant. More than 12 million people have been displaced and half a million Syrians have died since 2011. 13.5 million people currently need urgent humanitarian aid to survive, but because of the nature of the war, this help cannot be given out to them. Berg pointed out that the Syrians cannot stay in their country, because if they were to stay, their death would be almost guaranteed. In addition, the area is so ravaged by war that the governmental and infrastructure systems are almost non-existent.

All of these refugees needed a place to go, so they took many different routes to find a safer home in their surrounding countries as well as Europe. However, most of the governments in Europe have had mixed reactions to the waves of refugees arriving on their shores. There has been legislation, calls to action, and many refugee camps established in response to the masses of people moving to a new home.

Here in the U.S., there has been a lot of discussions about how to handle the refugees, but not much action has been taken so far. President Obama originally wanted to take in around 10,000 refugees, which comparatively is only 0.003% of the U.S. population. However, legislation has been passed that would make refugees unable to enter the country until they were properly investigated and licensed.

Berg used a variety of methods to find information about this topic. She read many credible newspaper articles, examined various government reports, and even conducted an interview with a Regina alumnae, Antonia Mandry ’93, who works with UNICEF.

The gravity of this topic is obvious as there are so many people dying from trying to escape their countries. This fact would lead many to ask why Berg would pick this topic for her leadership project. The pure pursuit of knowledge and a global solution led Berg to research this subject.

She says, “I have been following the refugee crisis over the course of the year, and took this as an opportunity to really delve deeper into the topic and understand the conflict as well as the global response. ”

Berg’s confidence and poise when discussing this topic shows her leadership skills and her ability to teach many about this complex issue. She said that her organizational and planning skills helped her to be successful in this project and throughout her life.

She says, “I think it showed my ability to organize a complex situation and make it comprehensible to all people. I like to consider myself an organizational leader, so in that way, it represented my leadership style.”

Berg’s leadership style and hunger for knowledge led her to success in her leadership scholar project.