Superior students serve as pages

Two Superior students got a look at the government back in January. For the first week of the legislative session, Savannah Moore and Michele Reinalt headed up to serve as legislative pages.

Students could choose to serve in the senate or the House of Representatives and both girls chose to serve in the house. Both of them were asked to consider applying to serve as pages by Representative Gordon Hendrick.

Reinalt said that as part of being a page they had to dress very formally. Duties included filing papers, passing out messages, getting things for the representatives during the time they are in session and run errands if needed.

“It was a lot of organizational things to make the job easier for the representatives,” Reinalt said.

Reinalt said that being from Canada she finds the history and government here in America “interesting and intriguing.”

Reinalt said that one of the neat things was meeting all the representatives and officials who run the state of Montana including the secretary of state and attorney general.

“And you see that they are real people like you and me. It was really cool to be able to meet a lot of them,” Reinalt said. “It was neat to meet the people who represent the state of Montana.”

Reinalt said that one of the neat things she learned was the process that a bill goes through.

“It was mind blowing seeing all the steps a bill has to take and all the procedures they have to do,” Reinalt said. “It’s such a long process.”

Reinalt said that overall it was a very educational experience and it turned out to be “such a blast.”

“It might sound boring at first, but you meet the nicest people and it was an amazing experience.”

Reinalt said that she would recommend that other students look into serving as a page.

For Moore, serving as a page provided a learning experience “totally different from the classroom.” She expressed similar sentiments as Reinalt. She enjoyed meeting everyone.

“It was cool and I learned a lot,” she said.

Moore said that as a page they weren’t allowed to take the elevators and had to opt for the stairs instead. She said that because the representatives are always using the elevator, they didn’t want them to be tied up.

“And I guess the pages are the lowest of the low,” Moore said.

She also noted the dress code and that you weren’t allowed to cross your legs.

She said that because they were up the first week, they got to see the representatives sworn in and some of the training.

Like Reinalt, Moore said that she would also recommend the experience to others. Reinalt said that if she is offered an invitation to go back she would take it.

Vicky Hendrick, Gordon’s wife, said that the representatives were very impressed with the girls. She said that they spoke well of their integrity and character. She said that it was neat to have both girls at the same time.

“They were going from morning to night,” she said. “It was a lot of fun to have them both. They got to see the government in action and it was a good experience for them.”