Last school year, students applied to join the club by submitting a bill they wrote. While more details will be released towards the end of the school year, students interested in joining Model Congress for next year can expect to write a sample bill and present it to Ms. Civitella.
This year, though, began on November 16th when Radnor’s Model Congress delegation boarded a bus to Washington, D.C. They spent the weekend at the Washington Hilton, participating in the 2023 Princeton Model Congress for the first time since the pandemic.
Before the conference, students in a Senate or a House were placed on a specific committee by Princeton’s Model Congress staff. At the conference, most Radnor students spent most of their time in committee. In their committees chaired by Princeton undergraduates, students debated bills written by others and worked to pass their own.
Students also attended sessions of their Senate or House in full, which involved all of the committees. Notably, in the full sessions of one Senate and one House, the president, who had only been elected two days prior during opening ceremonies, was nearly impeached for annexing Canada.
Some students applied to be on a special committee before the conference, meaning that rather than being in a Senate or a House, they would instead be part of the President’s Cabinet or the Supreme Court. Radnor’s delegation included two members of the President’s Cabinet.
On Saturday, students were provided time to traverse our nation’s capital. Radnor’s students took the opportunity to explore the city, with some going to Georgetown University or the National Mall. The excursion was included in the conference so that students could experience D.C. That evening, delegates attended the “Congressional Ball.” As Princeton undergrads huddled around a computer and played uncomfortably short clips of songs, students, who first had clung to the walls, formed a small clump in the middle of the dance floor, ready to dance.
Radnor’s Model Congress will attend the Harvard Model Congress this February.