With the Congressman Mark Foley scandal still in the recesses of our not-so-distant memories, I am going to go out on a limb in suggesting an internship as a Congressional or Senate Page. Thinking about this in your Freshman year in high school is none too soon. Your grades need to be good and it would be a good idea to be doing some volunteer work in some sort of political arena. You may not have a burning desire to go into politics at this time but the summer or school year you spend as a page will give you great insight into how the government operates and will give you some great contacts for later use in your career....whatever that may be.
For more than 100 years, messengers known as Pages have served the United States Congress. Pages are appointed and sponsored by a member of Congress and must be high school juniors and at least sixteen years old. Pages serve principally as messengers. They carry documents between the House and Senate, Members’ offices, committees, and the Library of Congress. They also prepare the House and Senate chambers for each day’s business by distributing the Congressional Record and other documents related to the day’s agenda, assist in the cloakrooms and chambers, and when Congress is in session, sit near the dais where they may be summoned by Members for assistance. In the House, pages also raise and lower the flag on the roof of the Capitol.
For more information on the duties, salaries and requirements to be a page go to the US Senate Reference page .
Contact your Senator’s office for more information on becoming a Senate Page.
And if you really want the inside scoop on what it's like to be a Congressional Page, the Congressional Page Association website has some basic information on what it's like to be a Page. I most enjoyed reading the Page Memories portion of the site. It made me wish I had known about this when I was in high school. I most definitely would have applied for it.
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