From Keokuk County to the Capitol: Area students take to the Iowa Legislature floor

            While most high school students would consider a job in food, retail or out in the fields to be just about all that is accessible to them, another option is open for those who have an interest in politics or simply want to experience something new. For Sigourney’s Tanner Halleran and Tri-County’s Abbey Hartwig, Natalie Steinke and Lydia Greene, that meant working at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines as pages and a clerk.

            The page program is hardly new to the state, but it is new to students in the area. Steinke was the first of the group to get involved last year as a page, where she got to witness firsthand how the Iowa Legislature works. She sat in on committee meetings and debates, met many legislators and brought documents to those legislators while working with fellow high school juniors and seniors across the state.

            “It was a great experience for me,” Steinke said. “You learn a lot and get to work with all these different legislators. I learned how to manage my time and how to act, because you can’t act exactly like you do in school.”

Please view the May 24 edition of The News-Review for the full story.