Yale Model Congress

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Wyatt Hooker, Staff Writer

On Dec 5-8, 2019, 17 Goffstown students proudly represented their school at the 2019  Yale Model Congress event in New Haven, Connecticut. This event is entirely run by Yale students. It is three days of heavy debate and compromise in students trying to get their bills passed. In the end students were given awards for their debate skills, the structure of their bill, and their overall speech flow. 

For this event, students had to construct bills based on the committee they chose to be on. The bills ranged from increasing taxes on food, to doubling the budget of the military. In order for their bill to pass, their committee must have a majority vote on the floor. Consequently, the students must convince the other members of the committee to vote in favor of the bill by presenting it and being able to properly defend the bill. One of the bills that was passed from GHS was a bill to increase the budget of the OCO (Overseas Contingency Operations) from the U.S. defense Budget. The student was able to get their bill passed by properly and clearly defending their bill against other members of the committee who did not want the bill to pass.

The event itself was a tremendous opportunity to learn and obtain a better understanding of how a small portion of how our government works. Joey McNeill, a senior who attended the conference said, ”It was good. it was enjoyable. It was a cool environment that really had smart highschoolers and was fun debating against them.” All the students had an amazing time and made some new friends as well. The Yale Model Congress was a huge success for GHS. Sixteen out of the 17 students who attended Model Congress submitted bills that were passed by their committees. The GHS Model Congress club is always open to new members. Be on the lookout for their next event coming in April.