Luis Carrera-Lara, 16, served as a page in the Washington State Senate during the week of Feb. 17.<\/p>\n
Pages are typically sponsored by the senator from their legislative district. Sen. Claire Wilson (D-Auburn) sponsored Carrera-Lara\u2019s week in the Legislature.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing my senator, getting to meet her and seeing her values made me feel like she values me and all my fellow constituents,\u201d Carrera-Lara said. \u201cWhat really surprised me was seeing how much time senators take out of their day to meet with the people of their districts and actually listen to them \u2014 and make sure the bills that they are passing not only benefit their community but benefit as many as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
For her part, Wilson said Carrera-Lara impressed everyone in her office and appeared to make the absolute most of his various opportunities as a page, including participating in the lieutenant governor\u2019s World Fellows Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you page in the Senate, you really get an eyeful, and Luis soaked it all in like a sponge,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cBy taking part in World Fellows, he saw a lot more than most pages get to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
The page program offers a hands-on opportunity for students to find out how state government works. The interactive learning experience includes classes focused on topics like budget writing and how a bill becomes a law, which culminates in pages creating their own bills in a mock committee setting. Carrera-Lara wrote and passed a bill providing overtime compensation for agricultural workers and is looking forward to advancing this legislation in Washington State.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing that most of these bills come from the people, it\u2019s nice to see that we\u2019re getting heard,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I really want to be an intern here, and hopefully pursue a political career at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pages also have the opportunity to work on the Senate floor. Their maroon coats and credentials allow them access to all parts of the Capitol Campus. The educational experience is furthered by guest speakers.<\/p>\n
Carrera-Lara is in 11th grade at Todd Beamer High School, where he is vice president of DECA, plays varsity track and cross country, and is active in MESA@HighlineCollege.<\/p>\n
For more information about the Senate Page Program, contact SenatePageProgram@leg.wa.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luis Carrera-Lara, 16, served as a page in the Washington State Senate during the week of Feb. 17. Pages are typically sponsored by the senator from their legislative district. Sen. Claire Wilson (D-Auburn) sponsored Carrera-Lara\u2019s week in the Legislature. \u201cSeeing my senator, getting to meet her and seeing her values made me feel like she values me and all my fellow constituents,\u201d Carrera-Lara said. \u201cWhat really surprised me was seeing how much time senators take out of their day to meet with the people of their districts and actually listen to them \u2014 and make sure the bills that they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-release"],"yoast_head":"\n