It's a once in lifetime opportunity and a Wauwatosa East student Layne Donovan pulled it off. TODAY'S TMJ4's Charles Benson talked with Layne about her semester in the nation's capitol as a Senate Page.
Charles: Did you become a tourist in DC?
Layne: (laughs) I did, I got the opportunity to explore the city on the weekends.
Layne Donovan didn't just learn about how Washington works, she lived it, "The night of the tax reform was very cool."
The high school junior was a Senate Page last semester, one of only 30 selected from a very competitive program.
She witnessed talk over a government shutdown and the historic GOP tax cut.
"Just being there is really amazing," said Donovan, "being in that room there was a sense of history."
Her job included running errands to Senate offices, assisting senators on the floor and listening to a lot of speeches.
"One of the things I learned is that they really do care about what they are talking about. either side of the aisle. They really, really care," she said.
Living in D.C. and working as a Senate Page would beat any sort of history lesson you might learn in class. But Layne still had to do all the school stuff. She still had to take her core classes while in Washington
"Politics, in general, is so interesting to me because I really enjoy history and so politics is kind of history today," said Donovan.
She was sponsored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin and says the Senate Page experience has inspired her to pursue a public policy career.
"Politics gives people the ability to create positive change," she said.
