Week One 

My first week, as a page, was a lot different than the job usually is. As all of the representatives kept saying, it was a lot of pomp and circumstance. 

I spent my days with the other ten pages setting up chairs for speeches, making a lot of introductions, and being in complete awe of my position and the people around me. 

While I was unable to stay for the Condition of the State address, I was able to be at the Condition of the Judiciary and the Condition of the National Guard speeches during the first week of the session. While anyone could have watched these speeches on TV it is completely different seeing them in person. I will say that the calmness of the House Floor during these speeches does not carry on during the regular days. 

While I expected to see a lot of well-known politicians working at The Capitol, I was still shocked when I saw Governor Kim Reynolds about three different times during the first week and I almost stepped on Senator Chuck Grassley’s foot. 

Toward the end of the week, I did more typical things for my job, such as giving lobbyist notes to The House Floor, running the technology for committee meetings, and running other errands for the reps, such as getting them a pop from the vending machine. 

Week Two 

The second week of my internship finally portrayed what I will be doing for the rest of my time at The Capitol. 

Now that session is in full swing there are a lot of varying organizations that advocate for themselves by having booths in the rotunda of The Capitol. This is really great for me because usually, they have free food, but it also means that a lot of different voices want to be heard. Most of these booths are organizations such as the Iowa Human Rights Organization, The Iowa Youth Congress, veterans as well as companies advocating for their various products. 

Because of all of these groups, I spent a lot of my week being the middleman between constituents and their representatives. When a person wants to talk to a certain representative they fill out a small yellow slip with the rep’s name, along with the reason that they want to talk to them. It is then my job to transfer that note to the said representative to see if they are available or not. If the representative is not there or is busy, I have to go back and inform the constituent. 

The notes, along with more committee meetings, is mostly how I spent my days working this week. 

After hours on Tuesday, I was able to attend the public hearing for House Bill 1, which is about school vouchers. While I did not get to be in the exact room where the hearing was taking place, I was able to watch a live stream of the hearing in the room opposite it. It was really interesting to gain more insight into the bill and to be in the building it was being discussed in. 

When I attend events, such as the hearing, I am required to take off all indications that I am a page, so that I do not show my true political affiliations while I am on the job. As many of you may know it is difficult for me to hide my emotions and opinion, so this has definitely been a challenge, especially during this polarizing ceremony. 

While my position does not sound completely glamorous, I absolutely love it. The insight I am getting from behind-the-scenes politics and the connections I am making is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

I am excited to see what the next four months have in store!