On behalf of the Institute for International & Domestic Affairs, I would like to invite you to attend Rutgers Model Congress at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Brunswick, New Jersey from 15-18 April 2010.
RMC is a four-day debate conference where high school students participate in the research and discussion of domestic policy and social issues with their peers and the staff. Students simulate a number of Congressional committees and domestic issues, which they will research in-depth prior to the conference. The committees are staffed by dedicated Rutgers students, who spend the year leading up to RMC developing research briefs, which serve to assist and guide the students in discussion. After intensive debate in their committees, students work cooperatively to produce thorough and realistic legislation.
While students at RMC are addressing domestic issues and learning political and legislative processes, they are also developing key skills, including critical thinking, public speaking, and problem solving. As students improve and refine these abilities at the RMC conference, they are better able to use them in the classroom and throughout their lives.
The educational focus of this conference is sustainability. While students may hear this word all the time in the classroom and in the media, conversations around sustainability largely focus on environmental issues. However, at RMC 2010, we will challenge students to apply sustainability to a wider range of issues, including the political, economic, and social vitality of the United States, and by extension the global community. A conversation around sustainability is particularly salient today. This generation has been handed a platter of problems ranging from rising unemployment to faltering foreign relationships. While this buzzword is still salient, policy makers, and in this case, high school students, should begin to explore policies that address the needs of the present without compromising the vitality future. Perhaps this means putting an end to the boom-bust cycle of the economy, bringing more jobs back into the U.S, or amending fractured foreign relationships through discussion and diplomacy.
RMC 2010 will integrate sustainability into the conference through variety of traditional and advanced committees. In the West Wing, students will recreate the high-pressure atmosphere of the White House, where the president's key advisors must act quickly to address an economic crisis and two wars abroad. New York City Council will explore policy at the local level, and the means of creating community, with policy and infrastructure that can ensure the vitality and welfare of a diverse population for years to come. The Supreme Court will address the importance of diplomatic globalization, by introducing the idea of integrating international law into U.S. foreign policy. Students will also have the opportunity to relive FDR's first one hundred days as president, and explore the parallels of a historical economic crisis, with the economic trifles of today.
Registration for RMC will open on 1 December 2009 on theIDIA website.
If at any time you have any questions or concerns about the registration process or the conference itself, please do not hesitate to contact us. I am eagerly awaiting your presence at RUMUN 2010, and wish you the best of luck before the conference!
Gwen Prowse
Executive Director
Rutgers Model Congress 2010
How do I register? Visit our registration form by clicking below.
What is coming up? Check our Calendar for the latest updates.
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