Skip To Main Content

Model Congress Reps Get Golden Gavel

RSS Feeds Subscribe to Alerts
Model Congress Reps Get Golden Gavel
Model Congress Golden Gavel Winners

Eighth graders traveled to The Chapin School on Saturday to participate in this year's Model Congress gathering. Tovah, Lorelai, and Slater brought home Golden Gavel trophies for Best Legislators in their committees. Kia also earned the Honorable Mention for Best Legislator in her committee. Foote's Model Congress representatives also had a record number of bills selected for debate in full sessions. 

Model UN Advisor Liam Considine said: "We are proud to announce that four Foote students were recognized for their skill and presence."

Read Rick Menning's play-by-play from the day!

As it has for more than 30 years, The Foote School Model Congress convened before sunrise on Saturday morning to a chorus of East Rock songbirds, as students gathered to board the bus for The Chapin Model Congress, held on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. As the only non-NYC school among a record number of participants, our delegation proudly represented not just Foote—but Connecticut, and arguably all of New England!

Our students have been preparing for this moment since the second week of school. Their mission: to hone their debate skills, deepen their understanding of contemporary issues, and select a topic they cared about deeply enough to craft thoughtful legislation. The results were both imaginative and intelligent, reflecting their passion and insight.

Here are the bills our students presented:

  • A Bill for Protection of Children from Grooming and Exploitation on Online Services (Antonello and Ginnetti)
     

  • A Bill to Raise the Federal Voting Age to 25 and Require Cognitive Testing for Voters Over 70 (Assaf and Deniz)
     

  • An Act to Make Getting a Green Card Easier (Berkowitz)
     

  • A Bill to Permit Voting by Cell Phone (Lang and Boms)
     

  • A Bill to Increase Funding for Lab-Grown Meat Research and Testing (Hanson and Bourne)
     

  • A Bill to Control the Sale and Possession of Bullets (Bruce)
     

  • A Bill to Further Establish Rights for Children on Social Media (Burke and Rouwenhorst)
     

  • A Bill to Promote Community Composting Systems (Caliendo and Gozar-Zimbrean)
     

  • A Bill to Permit Gene Editing (Tang and De La Cruz y Carmen)
     

  • A Bill to End Standardized Testing in College Admissions (Gazzola)
     

  • An Act to Establish National Mandatory Paid Sick Leave (Harris-Sturges)
     

  • A Bill to Guarantee Reproductive Rights (Hawkins)
     

  • A Bill to Replace Diesel School Buses with Electric School Buses (Lang and Lasater)
     

  • A Bill to Provide Free Healthcare to All U.S. Households Earning Under $60,000 Per Year (Laskin-Tievsky)
     

  • A Resolution to Amend the Constitution to Require Congressional Approval for Pardons (Lucarelli-Apatow)
     

  • A Bill to Fund Private Prisons Based on Rehabilitation, Not Occupancy (Lopez)
     

  • A Bill to Provide Sufficient and Accessible Funding for Public Libraries Across the USA (Esselstyn and Myers)
     

  • A Bill to Ban Solitary Confinement as a Form of Punishment (Roche and Zagmout)
     

  • A Bill to Diversify Government Holdings by Investing in Cryptocurrency (Seymour)
     

  • A Resolution to Amend the Constitution to Abolish the Electoral College and Replace It with a Popular Vote System (Sheehan)
     

  • An Act to Invest in the United States’ Aging Transportation Infrastructure (Stanley and Smith-Souza)
     

The bills in bold were selected by their respective committees for presentation in the full afternoon sessions of Congress. Out of 22 committees representing 11 schools, The Foote School had a strong presence in these plenary sessions. Nearly all of our bills passed in committee—a remarkable achievement. Still, it’s worth noting that even bills that did not advance were compelling, well-crafted, and thought-provoking. Our goal is to spark real debate and showcase student creativity, not merely to pass legislation.