One recent Thursday afternoon, twelve Kent students arrived in New York City for what would be quite an eventful weekend. Our first steps in the city were in Grand Central Station, where we maneuvered our way through busy, fast walking crowds. We carried suitcases crammed with clothes and binders bursting with notes for the upcoming conference through the bustling train system until we found our way out into Times Square.

That same night, we stepped into our committees for the first session of the weekend, not as ourselves, but as the characters we were representing. For example, Phoebe Danaher ’16 represented Ireland in 2020, Cassidy Tibbetts ’16 was Chan from Avatar, and Brynn Furey ’16 was an executive at American Airlines.

We were all forced to put ourselves in a different perspective to achieve the goals of our characters. Through scrawled notes passed around the room, brief speeches, and directives written for approval by the entire committee, we tried to manipulate the outcomes of our committees, which we did to varying degrees of success.

Andreas Theodoropoulos ‘17’s  character was assassinated (twice), Italy threatened Kinsey Bluestein ’16 with war, and my committee elected Donald Trump as president (against the wishes of the Democratic National Committee we represented). Still, we all came out as winners.

Every student learned how to write notes a little faster, speak a little more confidently, and look at politics in a new way. As we boarded the train, back at Grand Central again, we all knew that the four exhausting days had been worth it. I personally will never forget the free milkshakes at a New York dinner, the late night Shake Shack runs, and international debates of this truly rewarding weekend.