Welcome to Harvard Model Congress and to the National Security Council, the conference’s most challenging and exciting program. We hope you are as thrilled as we are to discuss and find creative solutions to the most important security and defense challenges facing the United States today. Over the course of the conference, you will engage in both prepared and spontaneous debates with the ultimate goal of crafting policy recommendations for the President and Congress; you may also be asked to contribute your expertise to debates in other committees through testimony, all of which will require a high level of preparation and focus from participants. While we’re sure you would like to get started on preparation, we’ll first share a bit about ourselves.
Jimmy Biblarz is originally from sunny Los Angeles, CA, and is now a sophomore living in Eliot House and concentrating in Social Studies. His main interest areas are education policy, international education, and civil rights. Additionally, he is a huge film buff (likely getting a secondary field in Film Studies) and loves the beach. At Harvard, he is involved with community service-orientated programs at the Institute of Politics. In addition to Model Congress, Jimmy works with Dorm Crew (a student run organization that cleans the majority of students’ bathrooms) and is on the Undergraduate Council! Please email him if you have questions about your briefings, the conference, or Harvard!
Mark is a sophomore in Adams House studying Social Studies, which he swears is a real major and not your least favorite subject in 5th Grade. This is Mark’s second HMC conference. After a long stint in the evil world of Model UN, he can’t wait for HMC to get started. When not looking at pictures of Barack Obama in the Situation Room, Mark runs the Harvard Canadian Club and watches 30 Rock.
Once again, welcome to the committee. We urge all of you to take advantage of the materials we have posted on this site and of the resources available on the internet to prepare for HMC. The more seriously you approach the important issues at hand, the more engaging and enriching debate will be. Your thoughtful contributions to our discussions will enable our committee to craft creative and genuine solutions to the complex issues we will debate. In short, read up: it will be worth the time. Have a wonderful fall semester, and stay in touch—we are happy to answer any questions you have about HMC.
All the best,