# Harvard Model Congress

Harvard Model Congress (HMC) is a congressional simulation conference that provides American high schools and students abroad to experience the American government firsthand. HMC is run entirely by Harvard undergraduates; it is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization operated independently of the university.

## Domestic conferences

Harvard Model Congress Boston, founded in 1986, is the oldest of the HMC conferences and is held annually in Downtown Boston. Each February, nearly 1,500 delegates travel to attend. The 2025 conference was the latest to date with over 1700 delegates. Programs include committees acting as the House of Representatives, Senate, and Supreme Court, as well as other functions associated with the government.
Founded in 2001, Harvard Model Congress San Francisco is an American government simulation program based on the Boston model and the first conference of its type on the West Coast.

## International conferences

Harvard Model Congress Middle East, formerly known as Harvard Model Congress Dubai, was founded in 2013. Harvard Model Congress Dubai 2013 took place at the American University in Dubai, UAE, from January 24 to 26. It hosted over 300 students from 11 different countries in its first conference.
Harvard Model Congress Asia (HMCA) was founded in 2004, holding an annual conference in mid-January (second weekend of January). HMC Asia was organized in Hong Kong. It has nearly 600 students from 19 countries on four continents. HMC Asia focuses on America's political system and international governmental institutions. The 2008 conference, supposed to be held from September 4–6, was cancelled due to rebellion in Thailand. As a substitute for the cancelled 2008 HMCA, the 2009 session of Harvard Model Congress Asia was held in Seoul, South Korea, from January 22 to 24. In 2020, HMCA moved to Tokyo for the first time. In 2021 and 2022, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, HMCA was hosted virtually. In 2023, HMCA planned to return to Seoul for its first in-person conference since the pandemic.
Harvard Model Congress Europe was founded in 1987 and holds an annual conference in mid-March. HMC Europe looks at institutions of international governance, including the World Health Organization, Group of 24, and European Commission. HMC Europe 2020 was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the 2021 conference was hosted virtually.
Harvard Model Congress Latin America was founded in 2014, holding an annual conference near the end of August. The first HMC Latin America took place in São Paulo, Brazil, from August 21 to 24 at the Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo.

## Boston history

| Session | Year | President(s) | Keynote speaker |
| 1 | 1986 | Alan Crane and Neil Morganbesser | U.S. Secretary of Energy John S. Herrington |
| 2 | 1987 | Andrew Schmid and Jack Tsao | |
| 3 | 1988 | Theodore Lubke and Brendan Randall | |
| 4 | 1989 | Joseph Choo and Russell Wilcox | |
| 5 | 1990 | Ben Bisconte and Sandra Kahn | |
| 6 | 1991 | David Ackley and Emma Laskin | |
| 7 | 1992 | Henry Dormitzer and Keith Kaplan | |
| 8 | 1993 | James Doak and Mark Sneider | |
| 9 | 1994 | Keith Law and Will West | |
| 10 | 1995 | Stephen Ko and Jessica Levin | |
| 11 | 1996 | Jonathan Finkelstein and Arvind Venkat | |
| 12 | 1997 | Daniel Feinberg and Lawrence Lee | |
| 13 | 1998 | Wes Gilchrist and Kristi Patterson | |
| 14 | 1999 | Lanhee Chen and Adam Kovacevich | |
| 15 | 2000 | Benjamin Lanson and Anna Su | |
| 16 | 2001 | Amy Chen and Art Koski-Karell | |
| 17 | 2002 | Helen Gilbert and Beth Schwartz | |
| 18 | 2003 | Fiery Cushman and Lucien Smith | |
| 19 | 2004 | David Arrojo and Matt Ocheltree | |
| 20 | 2005 | Ramin Afshar-Mohajer and Julie Kobick | |
| 21 | 2006 | Isley Markman and James Paquette | |
| 22 | 2007 | Maura Graul and Laura Morris | |
| 23 | 2008 | Molly Barron and Hana Merkle | |
| 24 | 2009 | Meaghan Graul and Brittany Lin | |
| 25 | 2010 | Laura Dean and Glenn Alterman | |
| 26 | 2011 | Vasiliki Katsarou and Basima Tewfik | |
| 27 | 2012 | Jyoti Jasrasaria and Shohan Shetty | |
| 28 | 2013 | Andrew Shindi and Caitlin Lewis | |
| 29 | 2014 | Graham Wyatt and Eric Cervini | |
| 30 | 2015 | Delaram Takyar and Theo McKenzie | |
| 31 | 2016 | Neil Alacha and Jacob Steinberg-Otter | |
| 32 | 2017 | Tyler Olkowski and Jason Mills | |
| 33 | 2018 | Michael Geisler and Nida Ansari | |
| 34 | 2019 | Raquel Leslie and Nicholas Pagel | |
| 35 | 2020 | Kemi Akenzua and Cate Pinto | |
| 36 | 2021 | Will Matheson and Aidan Keenan | Attorney General Maura Healey and Rep. Seth Moulton |
| 37 | 2022 | Aidan Keenan and Katie O’Meara | Former Mayor Kim Janey |
| 38 | 2023 | Nikolas Kirk and Ella Wesson | |
| 39 | 2024 | Raina Cohen and Matthew Tibbitts | Rep. Gabe Amo and Carol Rose |
| 40 | 2025 | Nahla Owens and Jack Kelly | United States Secretary of Labor Julie Su |

## Asia history

| Session | Year | Location | Location |
| Session | Year | City | Country | President(s) |
| 1 | 2005 | Bangkok | Thailand | Loui Itoh and Laura Morris |
| 2 | 2006 | Bangkok | Thailand | Ronnie Angus and Brian Coyne |
| 3 | 2007 | Bangkok | Thailand | Matt Vandenberg and Luke Langford |
| 4 | 2008 | Bangkok | Thailand | Christopher Miller |
| 5 | 2009 | Seoul | South Korea | Christopher Miller |
| 6 | 2010 | Seoul & Singapore | South Korea & Singapore | Mate Pencz |
| 7 | 2011 | Singapore | Singapore | Jacky Kwong |
| 8 | 2012 | Singapore | Singapore | Marc Steinberg |
| 9 | 2013 | Singapore | Singapore | Jeffrey Lerman |
| 10 | 2014 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong, SAR | Adam P. Ziemba |
| 11 | 2015 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong, SAR | Erik Bakke |
| 12 | 2016 | Seoul | South Korea | Zachary J. Lustbader |
| 13 | 2017 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong, SAR | Oksana Moscoso |
| 14 | 2018 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong, SAR | Melvin Woo |
| 15 | 2019 | Singapore | Singapore | Rachel Chiu |
| 16 | 2020 | Tokyo | Japan | Katie Rabinovitz |
| 17 | 2021 | Virtual | Virtual | K. Taylor Whitsell |
| 18 | 2022 | Virtual | Virtual | Georgia Steigerwald |
| 19 | 2023 | Seoul | South Korea | Kyle Felter |
| 20 | 2024 | Seoul | South Korea | June Park |
| 21 | 2025 | Taipei | Taiwan | Stephen Norris |

## Europe history

| Session | Year | Location | Location |
| Session | Year | City | Country | President |
| 1 | 1988 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Alexander Shustorovich |
| 2 | 1989 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Gina Berardi |
| 3 | 1990 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Andria Derstine |
| 4 | 1991 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Susan Stayn |
| 5 | 1992 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | James Fowler |
| 6 | 1993 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Scott Hemphill |
| 7 | 1994 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Nik Korgaonkar |
| 8 | 1995 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Daniel Bisgeier |
| 9 | 1996 | Paris | France | Ryan Hackney |
| 10 | 1997 | Paris | France | Steven Hill |
| 11 | 1998 | Paris | France | Mark Veblen |
| 12 | 1999 | Paris | France | Eric Bolesh |
| 13 | 2000 | Paris | France | Saloni Saraiya |
| 14 | 2001 | Paris | France | John Marshall |
| 15 | 2002 | Paris | France | Cathy Tran |
| 16 | 2003 | Paris | France | Ann Chernicoff |
| 17 | 2004 | Paris | France | Sam King |
| 18 | 2005 | Paris | France | Richard Tieken |
| 19 | 2006 | Paris | France | Miranda Dietz |
| 20 | 2007 | Athens | Greece | Carolyn Amole |
| 21 | 2008 | Athens | Greece | Awara Mendy |
| 22 | 2009 | Brussels | Belgium | Leslie Dyke |
| 23 | 2010 | Brussels | Belgium | Annie Shoemaker |
| 24 | 2011 | Brussels | Belgium | Alison Schumer |
| 25 | 2012 | Brussels | Belgium | Rachel Wilson |
| 26 | 2013 | Madrid | Spain | Chandan Lodha |
| 27 | 2014 | Madrid | Spain | Eric Chung |
| 28 | 2015 | Madrid | Spain | Zach Fields |
| 29 | 2016 | Rome | Italy | Laura Lynn Liptrap-Sandoval |
| 30 | 2017 | Madrid | Spain | Gavin Sullivan |
| 31 | 2018 | Madrid | Spain | Caroline Tervo |
| 32 | 2019 | Madrid | Spain | Aren Rendell |
| 33 | 2020 | Madrid | Spain | Jessie Rodriguez |
| 34 | 2021 | Virtual | Virtual | Melody Wang & Nyla Brewster |
| 35 | 2022 | Virtual | Virtual | Nour Abou-Hussein |
| 36 | 2023 | Madrid | Spain | Lap Nguyen |
| 37 | 2024 | Palma | Spain | Logan Kelly |
| 38 | 2025 | Brussels | Belgium | Atticus Lee |

## San Francisco history

| Session | Year | President(s) |
| 1 | 2001 | John Marshall |
| 2 | 2002 | Adam Hornstine |
| 3 | 2003 | Katherine O'Gara and Julie Hackenbracht |
| 4 | 2004 | Stephanie Kendall and Michael Schacter |
| 5 | 2005 | Michael Thompson |
| 6 | 2006 | Shanshan Jiang and Katie Johnson |
| 7 | 2007 | Jordan Boslego and Loui Itoh |
| 8 | 2008 | Megan Srinivas and Jason Burke |
| 9 | 2009 | Meaghan Graul, Brittany Lin, and Sam Roosz |
| 10 | 2010 | Glenn Alterman, Laura Dean, and Ariel Stoddard |
| 11 | 2011 | Vasso Katsarou, Basima Tewfik, and Ethan Amaker |
| 12 | 2012 | Alison DiCurcio |
| 13 | 2013 | Annie Baldwin |
| 14 | 2014 | Andrew Sudler |
| 15 | 2015 | Samuel Finegold |
| 16 | 2016 | Peyton Fine |
| 17 | 2017 | Maddy Nam |
| 18 | 2018 | Andrew Badinelli |
| 19 | 2019 | Nicholas Eynon |
| 20 | 2020 | Nirav Sookhai |
| 21 | 2021 | Trisha Prabhu |
| 22 | 2022 | Michael Wallace |
| 23 | 2023 | Matt Tibbitts |
| 24 | 2024 | Nahla Owens |
| 25 | 2025 | Andre Ramsey |

## Middle East history

| Session | Year | President |
| 1 | 2013 | Eric Cervini |
| 2 | 2014 | Amy Alemu |
| 3 | 2015 | Erica Byas-Smith |
| 4 | 2016 | Rebecca Curran |
| 5 | 2017 | Carlos Mendizabal |
| 6 | 2018 | Benjamin Delsman |
| 7 | 2019 | William Delaney |
| 8 | 2020 | Lainey Newman |
| 9 (Conference cancelled due to COVID-19) | 2021 | Claira Janover |
| 10 | 2022 | Delaney Hurley |
| 11 | 2023 | Samuel D. Lowry |
| 12 | 2024 | Meredith Zielonka |
| 13 | 2025 | Nabila Chowdhury |

## Latin America history

| Session | Year | Location | Location |
| Session | Year | City | Country | President |
| 1 | 2014 | São Paulo | Brazil | Enzo Vasquez |
| 2 | 2015 | São Paulo | Brazil | Oksana Moscoso |
| 3 | 2016 | São Paulo | Brazil | Rebecca Ramos |
| 4 | 2017 | São Paulo | Brazil | Andrew Wilcox |
| 5 | 2018 | Mexico City | Mexico | Jocelyn Hernandez |

## Logistics

Each year, around 200 Harvard undergraduates assist with planning and running the conferences.
For the Boston conference, the debate topic must be chosen by May. Updates to briefings are written and distributed to schools by winter, and issue summaries are also provided to the delegates. HMC 2009 was HMC's first-ever paperless conference. For the duration of the event, each year, Harvard Model Congress uses most of the Boston Sheraton conference space.