The aspiring congressional leaders of the Wilton High School Model Congress ranked as ‘outstanding’ at the 2015 Yale Model Congress which was held in New Haven on Dec. 3-6. Seventeen students attended the annual competition, where Wilton Model Congress has been a perennial powerhouse under the tutelage of their longtime WHS advisor and teacher Kenneth Dunaj.
At the YMC closing ceremonies, the WHS Model Congress Delegation was recognized by the conference leadership as the Outstanding Small Delegation for 2015. This is the third time that the Wilton students have been awarded this honor.
In addition, several of the individual WHS Model Congress students were awarded for their outstanding legislative and debate skills this weekend.
Model Congress provides civic minded high school students the opportunity to participate in a simulation of the American legislative process. This year’s conference hosted 500-plus students in delegations from more than 20 of the top public and private high schools in the Northeast.
Wilton Model Congress students began preparing for the Yale conference at the start of the school year. Students that participated engaged in weekly sessions in order to introduce their original legislation to their peers at YMC. During the conference students debated and compromised in order to address some of the same pressing issues faced by American legislators: police brutality, the crisis in Syria, doctor-assisted suicide, renewable energy and other topical issues.
The following WHS students were also recognized for their individual achievements:
Best Delegate Award:
Jessica Kobsa (Senate Special Committee on Aging)
Cameron Berg (Senate Foreign Relations)
Michael McElroy (Senate Environment & Public Works)
Best Legislation Award:
Nicholas Johnson (Senate Armed Services)
Michael Wallace (Senate Intelligence)
Julia Erardi (House Homeland Security/Energy & Natural Resources Novice Committee)
Honorable Mentions:
Ravi Siripuram (Senate Judiciary)
Jonah Hirsch (Senate Homeland Security/Governmental Affairs)