It's been another banner year for Branford High School Model Congress (BHSMC), led by seniors helping uphold a now 22-year tradition of garnering gavels in an academic stratosphere heavy with private school teams.

"I feel like we're the only school that's not private or from an affluent community," said senior president Isabel Bysiewicz, one of 11 BHSMC 2016 senior presidents. "We're an anomaly."

Senior president Matt Sachs added, "It's not a class, it's a commitment outside of school that we take a lot of pride in. There are so many kids who do Model Congress across the country; but not ones that maybe have had the experiences that we've had. The awards that we've been getting and the experiences have made us better writers and better listeners, and better students altogether."

BHSMC "Founding Father" and Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher Jim Petela said BHSMC has experienced great growth this year and the exiting seniors have raised the bar for underclassmen. Petela selected 11 senior presidents and seven vice-presidents/governors to lead BHSMC 2016, which has over 80 members from across all high school grade levels.

"Five of our presidents/vice presidents got into Ivy League Schools," Petela noted, "... and also President Lily Kirby won six gavels in a row over the last three years (including) a double at Yale this year in Committee and Full sessions. She's one of the few to do that in our history."

Kirby will attend Brown University next year, while other schools which will welcome 2016 BHSMC alumni include Yale, Georgetown, Georgia Tech and UCONN, to name a few.

BHSMC 2016 senior presidents include Bysiewicz, Sachs, Kirby, Alena Bianchi, Miles Conlin, Gabriella DeBenedictis, Kevin Jin, Matilda Kreider, Cleo Kyriakides, Matt Lombardi and Seraphin Tala. Vice Presidents/Governors include Gilliam Basilicato, Mansi Chapatwala, Madison D'Onofrio, Lexie Evon, Etta Hanlon, Claira Janover and Cyrene Nicholas.

Among her accolades, Bysiewicz won a Golden Gavel for BHSMC and said she definitely intends to join Yale Model Congress when she heads to New Haven in the fall. She plans to study Global Studies with a concentration in International Security and credits BHSMC for helping her to grow personally.

"I saw a development in myself through Model Congress," said Bysiewicz. "As a freshman, I was really shy. Going into my last conference as a senior, I felt I had really changed and become more confident in myself. It's been like the embodiment of my growing up."

Tala said he loved to talk as a freshman but quickly learned from his BHSMC experience that "substance" is a key ingredient to debate success.

"I loved talking in front of people, but what I was saying wouldn't be anything of substance," said Tala. "Model Congress taught me how to research a topic, put a solution on paper, and then go up in front of people debating and saying '...this is my message.' I plan to take that with me to college."

As a junior last year Tala won his first gavel award at the Harvard conference.

"I was excited to debate in front of about 100 people because I had prepared a lot; so it was very rewarding experience," he said. Of his winning style, he said, "...you do want to listen to the other side, but you want to still hold on to your opinion. You don't want to seem ambiguous. No great debater has ever seemed ambiguous in terms of his topic."

Tala will attend UCONN where he plans to major in Political Science and plans to join the UCONN Student Government. He'll see a familiar face in co-senior president Gabriella DeBenedictis, who also will attend UCONN and has already set her sights on getting involved in a particular extra-curricular.

"Being a Model Congress president was my goal right off the bat as freshman -- from my first few meetings I knew that was what I wanted," she said. "Now, I want to chair the Model UN they host at UCONN."

Sachs will attend Georgetown and said he came into BHSMC as a freshman not really knowing what to expect, or whether he'd be involved all four years. He said seeing the level of leadership Petela gives senior presidents and other officers convinced him that he wanted to stick around and work toward being named a president.

"He teaches us and we spread it on to the kids, especially the freshmen," said Sachs of Petela's advisory style. "It works because it's a lot easier when you're listening to someone three years older than you about what the experience is like. So we run meetings; but he does all the organizing behind the scenes for us -- which is a lot."

Jin said BHSMC enabled him to recognize the positivity of understanding and discussing world issues and helping to bring solutions to the table.

"At first it feels like your voice isn't going to go far; but then you find you have an opportunity to let people know what your solutions are, and you also hear what other people are thinking," said Jin. "When you research topics like the world's energy crisis or world terrorism or problems with balancing security with privacy, and you hear all the potential solutions, you feel like the world's going to be much better because of that."

Each year, BHSMC travels to competitions at prestigious East Coast universities including Yale, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania. Sachs and Jin said one of the highlights they experienced was District Court at Harvard, an opportunity not found at other conferences.

"It was very engaging but it was extremely hard -- it was us driving ourselves," said Jin, "We planned everything out to the minute."

"You are lawyers for three days; and you have more than one case," said Sachs. "So you're spending a lot of time in court and then you're preparing for your next trial in your off-time."

Jin will attend Georgia Tech and said BHSMC has helped him to develop important skills he'll use in college and in life.

"It teaches you how to keep yourself together in any social environment," said Jin. "Model Congress built me up to be confident and to understand I can be in a situation and be absolutely comfortable with anything that's happening."