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 2026 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 speaker1 1986 Alan Crane and Neil MorganbesserU.S. Secretary of Energy John S. Herrington2 1987 Andrew Schmid and Jack Tsao3 1988 Theodore Lubke and Brendan Randall4 1989 Joseph Choo and Russell Wilcox5 1990 Ben Bisconte and Sandra Kahn6 1991 David Ackley and Emma Laskin7 1992 Henry Dormitzer and Keith Kaplan8 1993 James Doak and Mark Sneider9 1994 Keith Law and Will West10 1995 Stephen Ko and Jessica Levin11 1996 Jonathan Finkelstein and Arvind Venkat12 1997 Daniel Feinberg and Lawrence Lee13 1998 Wes Gilchrist and Kristi Patterson14 1999 Lanhee Chen and Adam Kovacevich15 2000 Benjamin Lanson and Anna Su16 2001 Amy Chen and Art Koski-Karell17 2002 Helen Gilbert and Beth Schwartz18 2003 Fiery Cushman and Lucien Smith19 2004 David Arrojo and Matt Ocheltree20 2005 Ramin Afshar-Mohajer and Julie Kobick21 2006 Isley Markman and James Paquette22 2007 Maura Graul and Laura Morris23 2008 Molly Barron and Hana Merkle24 2009 Meaghan Graul and Brittany Lin25 2010 Laura Dean and Glenn Alterman26 2011 Vasiliki Katsarou and Basima Tewfik27 2012 Jyoti Jasrasaria and Shohan Shetty28 2013 Andrew Shindi and Caitlin Lewis29 2014 Graham Wyatt and Eric Cervini30 2015 Delaram Takyar and Theo McKenzie31 2016 Neil Alacha and Jacob Steinberg-Otter322017Tyler Olkowski and Jason MillsFormer Sen. Evan Bayh33 2018 Michael Geisler and Nida Ansari342019Raquel Leslie and Nicholas Pagel352020Kemi Akenzua and Cate Pinto362021Will Matheson and Aidan KeenanAttorney General Maura Healey and Rep. Seth Moulton372022Aidan Keenan and Katie O’MearaFormer Mayor Kim Janey382023Nikolas Kirk and Ella Wesson392024Raina Cohen and Matthew TibbittsRep. Gabe Amo and Carol Rose402025Nahla Owens and Jack KellyUnited States Secretary of Labor Julie Su412026Laasya Chiduruppa and Atticus LeeFormer Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell422027Ava Silva and Bannon Price
Asia history Session Year Location City Country President(s)1 2005 Bangkok Thailand Loui Itoh and Laura Morris2 2006BangkokThailandRonnie Angus and Brian Coyne3 2007 Bangkok Thailand Matt Vandenberg and Luke Langford4 2008 Bangkok Thailand Christopher Miller5 2009 Seoul South KoreaChristopher Miller6 2010 Seoul & Singapore South Korea & Singapore Mate Pencz7 2011 Singapore Singapore Jacky Kwong8 2012 Singapore Singapore Marc Steinberg9 2013 Singapore Singapore Jeffrey Lerman10 2014 Hong Kong Hong Kong, SAR Adam P. Ziemba11 2015 Hong Kong Hong Kong, SAR Erik Bakke122016SeoulSouth KoreaZachary J. Lustbader13 2017 Hong Kong Hong Kong, SAR Oksana Moscoso14 2018 Hong Kong Hong Kong, SAR Melvin Woo152019 Singapore SingaporeRachel Chiu162020TokyoJapanKatie Rabinovitz172021VirtualVirtualK. Taylor Whitsell182022VirtualVirtualGeorgia Steigerwald192023SeoulSouth KoreaKyle Felter202024SeoulSouth KoreaJune Park212025TaipeiTaiwanStephen Norris222026TokyoJapanEmma Jing
Europe history Session Year Location City Country President1 1988 Luxembourg Luxembourg Alexander Shustorovich2 1989 Luxembourg LuxembourgGina Berardi3 1990LuxembourgLuxembourgAndria Derstine4 1991 Luxembourg LuxembourgSusan Stayn5 1992LuxembourgLuxembourgJames Fowler6 1993LuxembourgLuxembourgScott Hemphill7 1994LuxembourgLuxembourgNik Korgaonkar8 1995 Luxembourg Luxembourg Daniel Bisgeier9 1996 Paris France Ryan Hackney10 1997 Paris France Steven Hill11 1998 Paris France Mark Veblen12 1999 Paris France Eric Bolesh13 2000 Paris France Saloni Saraiya14 2001 Paris France John Marshall15 2002 Paris France Cathy Tran16 2003 Paris France Ann Chernicoff17 2004 Paris France Sam King18 2005 Paris France Richard Tieken19 2006 Paris France Miranda Dietz20 2007 Athens Greece Carolyn Amole21 2008 Athens Greece Awara Mendy22 2009 Brussels Belgium Leslie Dyke23 2010 Brussels Belgium Annie Shoemaker24 2011 Brussels Belgium Alison Schumer25 2012 Brussels Belgium Rachel Wilson26 2013 Madrid Spain Chandan Lodha27 2014 Madrid Spain Eric Chung28 2015 Madrid Spain Zach Fields29 2016 Rome Italy Laura Lynn Liptrap-Sandoval302017MadridSpainGavin Sullivan312018MadridSpainCaroline Tervo322019MadridSpainAren Rendell332020MadridSpainJessie Rodriguez342021VirtualVirtualMelody Wang & Nyla Brewster352022VirtualVirtualNour Abou-Hussein362023MadridSpainLap Nguyen372024PalmaSpainLogan Kelly382025BrusselsBelgiumAtticus Lee392026MadridSpainChristopher Shin
San Francisco history Session Year President(s)1 2001 John Marshall2 2002 Adam Hornstine3 2003 Katherine O'Gara and Julie Hackenbracht4 2004 Stephanie Kendall and Michael Schacter5 2005 Michael Thompson6 2006 Shanshan Jiang and Katie Johnson7 2007 Jordan Boslego and Loui Itoh8 2008 Megan Srinivas and Jason Burke9 2009 Meaghan Graul, Brittany Lin, and Sam Roosz10 2010 Glenn Alterman, Laura Dean, and Ariel Stoddard11 2011 Vasso Katsarou, Basima Tewfik, and Ethan Amaker12 2012 Alison DiCurcio13 2013 Annie Baldwin14 2014 Andrew Sudler15 2015 Samuel Finegold16 2016 Peyton Fine172017Maddy Nam182018Andrew Badinelli192019Nicholas Eynon202020Nirav Sookhai212021Trisha Prabhu222022Michael Wallace232023Matt Tibbitts242024Nahla Owens252025Andre Ramsey262026Hiral Chavre272027Layla Kelly
Middle East history Session Year President1 2013 Eric Cervini2 2014 Amy Alemu3 2015 Erica Byas-Smith4 2016 Rebecca Curran52017Carlos Mendizabal62018Benjamin Delsman72019William Delaney82020Lainey Newman9 (Conference cancelled due to COVID-19)2021 Claira Janover102022Delaney Hurley112023Samuel D. Lowry122024Meredith Zielonka132025Nabila Chowdhury142026Salma Boukouj152027Yasmeen Galal
Latin America history Session Year Location City Country President1 2014 São Paulo Brazil Enzo Vasquez2 2015 São Paulo BrazilOksana Moscoso32016São PauloBrazilRebecca Ramos4 2017 São Paulo BrazilAndrew Wilcox5 2018Mexico City MexicoJocelyn 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.
External links Harvard's website Official HMC website