Harvard Model Congress is a government simulation where students are asked to represent any given state representative and vouch for them and they are moral on certain political topics in a government simulation convention.

Their experience is scintillating in the sense that students had the opportunity to engage in political conversations with kids from all over the country and better yet some kids from all over the world. With HMC conventions in six different locations including Boston, San Francisco, Madrid, Hong Kong, and Dubai, Madison recently attended the conference in Boston which is the closest location to Harvard University itself. With this experience, students not only got an opportunity to engage in political conversations with other students from other high schools but with Harvard Students themselves. From my own experience last year, a group of four to five Harvard Students would call themselves the “chair”. Since this was a Congress simulation, the point was to recreate an official congressional meeting or as they call it, a “session”. During sessions, we basically conduct ourselves as we would in an actual congressional session, we use congressional jargon when want to be added to a speakers list or want to ask a question.

It’s a unique experience because it is not only something you experience independently but you learn how to conduct yourself professionally which is something useful whether you intend to be a state rep or not. You also get to talk to the Harvard Students casually which is awesome if you are interested in Harvard University or life as a college undergraduate in general.

The 24 students participated in HMC are incredibly intelligent and fun people that got to know each other a little better since this trip.

One of the students who attended, Sabrina Liu shared her experience:

“ I had a lot of fun and HMC was a great experience for me especially because of government and politics are something that I personally value. However, this experience is enjoyable by people who don’t participate in the aforementioned and is altogether a well-done event that combines creativity and collaboration ”.

For future reference, HMC is open to any sophomores, juniors or seniors who are interested in government and want to apply for the next year.