POTUS Club Attends Yeshiva League Model Congress Competition

by Corey Flyer, SSLI ‘26

This past Sunday, several of Schechter’s Politics of the United States (POTUS) club members participated in the Yeshiva League Model Congress (YLMC). This event is held annually at Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) High School. Yeshivot and private Jewish schools come together to participate in this deliberative event, showcasing their public speaking and negotiating skills. Each student chooses a committee to be a part of, and based on their committee’s description, students propose a bill to their fellow committee members, sparking intense debate and discussion.

Amit Chanoch, a junior, was one of the participants in YLMC. He shared his experience and outlined the role of the participants: “Model Congress is an event where people can act as senators who pass bills and decide to either veto them or pass them in a committee that is very specific to a certain issue.” Chanoch continued, “My committee was education, pensions, health care, and science. My bill in particular focused heavily on America’s expansion to Mars. I proposed that an allocation of fifty billion dollars over ten years would be conducive to a successful colonization of Mars.”

Congratulations to the POTUS club members for all of their hard work! (Schechter Instagram)

This was Chanoch’s first year participating in Model Congress. He shared, “My experience was at first quite daunting because I didn’t know the mechanisms and how everything was supposed to function. Eventually, I found my footing and gained enough confidence to share my speech and comment on other proposed bills.” Chanoch stated that he acquired many valuable skills from his participation in Model Congress. “I found a strong place of interest for this event. You get to see how the world functions and get to understand that your isolated world has many factors that are normally not paid attention to. Not only did it help me become more aware of the current state of the world, but I also learned how other people think in general. Overall, it was an enlightening experience,” said Chanoch.

Junior Micah Bidner, president of the POTUS club, also attended YLMC. He had previously attended the event during his freshman year of high school. Bidner shared, “I was lucky enough to win first place in my room, which is about ten people, and then third place overall [out] of about 250 [people].” The placements are made based on a variety of factors. The main one is participation in the debates. If a student continuously asks questions, gives affirmation or negation speeches, and presents strong ideas, their placement will be higher.

Overall, Schechter placed fifth out of the nineteen schools that participated in the competition. Each student presented strong bills, and all of the bills proposed by Schechter students were passed. POTUS club members are looking forward to next year’s competition and hope to bring back first place for Schechter.

Corey Flyer is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since December 2022. Corey is currently a junior at Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: cflyer26@schechterli.org