Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend roughly fifty San Luis Obispo High School students spent three days debating, writing, and passing bills at Harvard Model Congress (HMC).
HMC is a government simulation conference run by Harvard undergraduates that takes place in locations across the world, including Boston, Dubai, and San Francisco. Delegates from schools are either assigned to Congressional committees, where they’re given a senator or representative to portray, or to a special committee such as the CIA or NASA. The conference requires students to research the issues discussed in their committees as well as their representative’s position on a variety of topics. Students must follow their representative’s views as closely as possible while trying to write and pass bills in multi-hour sessions. The conference is an opportunity for students to develop their critical thinking, public speaking, and debate skills.
“Truthfully, I think HMC is important because if kids want to get into politics or anything like that, this is a really good way to see what it’s like, to feel that atmosphere and get experience writing bills and legislation. It’s a mock government experience that’s not available to that many students,” said senior and HMC Vice President Greg Thom.
For other students, the connections and relationships formed at HMC offer additional benefits.
“Although I do think that the public speaking and writing aspect of it is super important, my opinion is that the people who you meet and connect with are the most important parts of HMC. I know a lot of people who can get away with not speaking at all or not writing any bills at this conference, but pretty much everyone who I met talked about all the new people they met,” said junior Ingrid Chen.
Three students from SLOHS came away with “best delegate” awards which are given to three people from each committee. Students interested in attending HMC next year can reach out to teacher adviser Brendan Mcloone for information on next year’s meeting dates.
