Hopkins at the Princeton Model Congress

From November 16–19, just before Thanksgiving Break, 23 Hopkins students and three faculty chaperones traveled to Washington, D.C. for the annual Princeton Model Congress (PMC) trip. Most students in attendance are taking the 21st Century Democracy course, and in preparation for the trip wrote bills, chose committees and applied for positions on the Cabinet and Supreme Court, in addition to one presidential candidate. Before the trip, two students were appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State and Ambassador to the U.N., and four students received Supreme Court Justice positions.  On the journey down, students helped presidential candidate Drew Mindell ‘18 prepare his speech.

After checking in at the hotel where the conference was held, our delegates circulated flyers and campaign for Drew in his bid for president.  That night the full session opened, and the presidential candidates gave their speeches.  Drew gave a beautifully delivered and inspirational speech, and we’re happy to report that Drew was elected President of the PMC. Drew is the second President in Hopkins history, joining Michael Bass ‘16 with that distinction. Donasia Gray ‘18 also joined the cabinet as Drew’s Chief of Staff.  The students spent the rest of the evening in their committees.

On Friday, all committees met again in the morning.  That afternoon while some delegates were in session, the rest of the group took a tour of the Capitol given by Will Simon ‘16 who is interning with Senator Chris Murphy from CT.  The group was joined by Sam Greco ‘11, Jerrod Dobkin ‘11, and Walker Schneider ‘15, a great way for our students to hear about college and life in D.C.!  By the end of the tour, the whole Hopkins delegation met for the annual Mall walk from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.  Hunter Congdon ‘17 and Mark Samburg ‘03 joined the group for the walk, which has become a tradition for former students to meet up with the Hopkins delegation, and share stories of their PMC experience with the current students.  

Friday night the delegates were back in session, and were faced with a faux crisis involving a huge data breach and subsequent cyber terrorism plot.  Through the long hours, events unfolded so that our Secretary of State, Zander Blitzer ‘18 briefly became the 3rd president of PMC from Hopkins!  However, by Saturday, the Cabinet had returned to its original form.

On Saturday, the group had free time to explore D.C., visit Georgetown, or explore museums and memorial tours.  After a day of exploration and one more round of session work, our delegates gathered to go the historic Old Ebbit’s Grill, and were joined again by Sam Greco ‘11 and Will Simon ‘16, as well as Tom Rosiello ‘16 and Toella Pliakas ‘17.  

On Sunday morning, many delegates opted to attend their closing session and say goodbye to their committees, before heading back to New Haven, and a restful Thanksgiving Break.

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