by Maura Consedine ’19 (Immaculata House)

On Tuesday, March 26, I was lucky enough to spend the day as a guest page at the Pennsylvania State Capitol with two of my fellow AP Government classmates, Rebecca Jackson and Margaux Bissette. Sheryl Delozier, who is the Representative for Trinity’s District 88, was extremely welcoming, personable, and willing to share her knowledge of the interesting aspects of her job and various issues she is passionate about.

At the beginning of each day, Representative Delozier is given a detailed schedule, including the people she is meeting with and the topics they plan to discuss. Throughout the morning, we sat in on the first meetings on her agenda. We met a group of nurse anesthetists in training, and were later introduced to a lobbyist who gave us an interesting perspective on his job, explaining to us that he viewed himself as a teacher. The girls and I then witnessed powerful testimonies pushing for the criminalization of sexual extortion in a judiciary committee, which we all agreed was an issue of vital importance in today’s age of social media. Later we acted as “pages for the day,” full service messengers for legislative business, during session on the House floor, where we were introduced in front of almost all 203 members and their guests. Despite the fact that session was very brief, we got to see voting on multiple bills and meet other members in the chamber, and learn that this job involves a lot of running around so determination and resilience (as well as comfortable shoes) are a necessity!

Before the end of the day, we ventured to the Senate side of the building, where my mom works as the first female Secretary and Parliamentarian, and had the opportunity to watch a few minutes of session from the gallery. Representative Delozier was then gracious enough to discuss subjects that were of importance to her, such as criminal justice reform and prioritizing victims, especially those in sexual assault cases, as well as answering our questions about topics ranging from joint sessions, to internships, to the most dramatic incidents she has witnessed on the floor.

My goal is to one day be an FBI agent. As someone with a vested interest in public service as a career, both because of my own dreams and the fact that my parents have also worked in government, this was an incredibly rewarding experience. Getting to witness firsthand the inner workings of everyday life in the Capitol, especially during session, was such a unique occurrence, and I am grateful to Mr. Geisel for selecting Rebecca, Margaux, and myself to spend time applying what we have learned in class to real life and being reminded of the importance of the work done by state government.