Fortunately for the American people of the future, the next generation of Senators and Congresspeople has already shown great promise in solving today’s pressing issues. On Saturday, March 7th, seventeen Wilton High School students rose at the crack of dawn and travelled to Columbia University in New York City to participate in the 2015 Columbia Model Congress (CMC). CMC is an annual conference that provides elite high school students the opportunity to simulate Congress’s legislative process. Here they met with approximately two hundred other students from both public and private schools in the northeast to debate and refine legislation dealing with issues as diverse as extremism in the Middle East and physician aid in dying, immigration control and hormone regulations used in agriculture.

The Wilton High School Model Congress students prepared extensively for this conference; the club meets weekly throughout the school year to debate student-written bills and improve upon the students’ public speaking skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills. Their commitment and dedication earned them great success; six of the Wilton students received awards for their outstanding legislative and debate skills. The following students were recognized for their individual achievements:

Alika Zangieva – Best Delegate, Foreign Relations Committee

Irish Harvey – Best Delegate, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

Nicholas Johnson – Best Delegate, U.S. House of Representatives

Otto Stenzler – Honorable Mention, Third Constitutional Convention Committee

Jessica Kobsa – Honorable Mention, Ethics Committee

Randy Ramirez – Honorable Mention, Judiciary Committee

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