Cal answers your questions about the Page Program.

From Christine at The Plumed Nest: They make you wear coats if it's below 50 degrees? Is this a part of the page rules or just a rule by the chaperones? What are the pins that you wore on the lapel of your jacket? Did you get any sort of memento's from your time there?

Yes. We had to wear our coats when it was 50º or below. This was a Senate Page Program rule (it was different in the house). Everyday in the page room, the temperature and the soup of the day was written on a white board and the board would say "coats: yes" or "coats: no." Senate pages were allowed three pins on the front lapel. One of the pins was issued to us and the other two had to be approved. My pins were a Ralph Northam, Lt. Governor pin and a City of Norfolk pin. We weren't allowed to wear anything partisan although some people did on the backs of their lapels! All the pages received a blanket from the governor's inauguration, and on the last day we got a new pin that was the seal of Virginia. And just recently we got pins that say "Virginia Senate Page." We all loved collecting pins.

From Jenni: What do you hope to do (next?) with your experience? Is there a second year/follow-up opportunity that only those partaking in this year can take advantage of in a future year? Do you hope to put together a presentation? Encourage a friend to participate? Get more involved in politics in the future?

There is no second year option for the Page Program, although I'd like there to be! I am going to give a presentation on the program to my school soon at what we call a chapel talk. I do want to get more involved in politics in the future. I'd also like to get involved in the same program, except this time in the US Senate.

From Noreen at Beauty in Everyday Life: Did you learn a lot? What was the hardest part? The best part was making friends with all the other pages?

Yes, I did learn a lot! Especially about government, but also how to manage my money and life. The hardest part was saying goodbye to everybody at the end though I still remain in touch with people. One of the greatest parts was making friends, but I also really liked working with the Lt. Governor and his staff and working for them.

From Meghan at My Wishful Thinking: That must have taken some getting used to!? I might be echoing other comments but I have a couple of questions (as usual). What time did your day finish? It sounds like a lot of hard work and running around (but also lots of fun). What are you hoping to do next? Can you enroll for a second year? Has it made you want to get involved in politics?

Our day finished at 5PM when we walked back to the hotel to get our stuff and go to dinner. After dinner, we had study hall from 7-9PM. I do want to get involved in politics because I really enjoyed it and hope I can do something like it again!

photo credit to Wes Notham, the LG's son

Wednesday, April 23, marked the reconvene of the General Assembly of Virginia. The GA votes on the Governor's vetoes of bills, and the pages come back to work for one more day. I can't believe when I met these pages back in January that we'd be as close as we are today. We all became really close because we live together and work together, and I thought I'd tell you about what it's like to be a page in the Senate of Virginia.

All of the pages live together in a hotel in downtown Richmond, about a 10 minute walk from the capitol. Every morning my alarm was set for 6AM. I was always worried about oversleeping, so I set the alarm on our hotel room clock, my phone and my roommate's phone. The alarm on my roommate's phone always went off first, waking us up. As soon as we were showered, dressed and ready to leave (usually around 7:15) we'd have to get checked out by Mr. and Mrs. Snow, our hotel chaperones. Sometimes this would mean waiting in a long line of kids before writing our names on a clipboard to say where we were going.

We had three options for breakfast. Arby's in the hotel. Starbuck's in the hotel, or the cafeteria in the General Assembly Building, called Merriwether's. For the first weeks or so, we'd go to Starbuck's, then a lot of the boys started going to Merriwether's, mostly because Starbuck's is so expensive.

The walk to the capitol takes about 10 minutes. At all times, we have to travel in a group of 4 or more, for safety. We usually dreaded these walks because we were there during a cold and snowy time of year. Most people entering the General Assembly Building have to pass through security, but the pages have access everywhere and the Capitol Police let us pass freely.

Once in the General Assembly Building, we descended a flight of stairs, hung up our coats in lockers (coats must always be worn if it's below 50º), and entered the Page Room where there would be a schedule for the day written on a large white board. This schedule told us our jobs for the day and also listed the soup and sandwich of the day. Each page carried a notebook to write down all important information, including lunch. Often a senator would order lunch and would ask to know what the specials were.

My job was the same every day because I was selected to be the page for the Lieutenant Governor and he was my priority every day. I reported to the LG's office at 9 each day, but would leave the Page Room, along with another page, at 8:45 in order to stop by the post office and collect any mail for the LG. On the way to his office I also had stop at the Capitol to pick up the Journal. The Journal was the list of bills and presentation's for the day's session. One Journal went to the LG and one to the Majority Leader. I only picked up the Journal for the LG. Inside were pink notes telling the LG who to call on for certain bills.

From there, we'd head to the Oliver Hill Building where the LG's office was located. I'd tap on the window to let one of the LG's aides know that we were there so he could admit us into the secure building from the frigid cold.

In the LG's office we had a wide range of jobs. Sometimes we'd make lists of important people in the Commonwealth or work on a map of iconic places in Virginia. This kind of work wasn't like homework that you get in school, but it actually helped the LG's office accomplish its goals for the Commonwealth.

photo credit to Senate Page Program of VA

Because my job required me to assist the LG, I was on the floor of the Senate every day. This meant I had to eat lunch at 10:45 every morning! I did this because we never knew how long a floor session might last, and if we waited, we might never eat! One session lasted five hours! At 11:30, we'd head to the floor of the Senate. I was located on a bench next to the LG, so if he ever needed me during a session (which he rarely did) I was there to help.

When all the senators arrived on the floor (usually around noon), the LG gaveled in the session. Every day he would welcome visitors into the gallery. A green sheet was printed for each visitor that listed their name, occupation and organization (pages type these sheets). It also listed the senator who represented them. Early on the LG came to me and said that it was hard to find the senator's name on the sheet, so he asked me to write the name of the senator for each sheet in the upper right corner. This would make it easier to see.

I got into a system of writing down the names and delivering them to the bench, and we were pleased with how it worked. One day, the Deputy Clerk of the Senate asked what I was doing and I explained our system to him. Well, yesterday, when we returned, I delivered an introduction to the LG, and the Dept. Clerk turned to me and said, "Look what we did!" I saw they were now printing the sheets with the names typed up where I used to write them.

I was happy to see they had adopted our system. It truly made me feel like I had made my mark on the Senate of Virginia.

If a senator needed a page, they pressed a button that signaled that they wanted one. Since my responsibility was the LG, I did not take requests from other senators, like for lunch, unless they specifically asked. I always wished I could do this more because it's a bonus to get lunch for a senator since they tip you!

After the session ended (and they would last anywhere from 30 minutes to five hours ), we'd go back to the Page Room. I'd get a snack and then be a stand-by page. This meant that I'd only do a job if a senator's staff called the Page Room to ask for help. This happened all the time! Some things we might do would be answering phones, working the visitor's round-about, delivering mail to the governor's office and other duties. If we weren't on an assignment, we'd be hanging out and doing our homework.

There's so much more that happened after our work day that I'd like to share in detail, so I think I'll share it in another post. Thank you for letting me tell you about our program, and if you have any questions, please ask them in the comments. I'd love to answer them!

cal answers questions {still + life}

a day in a page's life {still + life}