REP. LIZ PIKE (center) is pictured here with several legislative pages. Pictured, from left to right, are Astrid DuBois, Rep. Liz Pike, Mariah Curtiss and Sequoia Pullella Barca. Photo courtesy of Washington State House of Representatives
Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, had the opportunity to sponsor three area students as legislative pages during the week of March 3-7 in Olympia. Astrid J.D. DuBois, Chiara “Sequoia” Pullella Barca, both of Battle Ground, and Mariah T. Curtiss of Brush Prairie all served together during their week as pages in the Washington State House of Representatives.
“Occasionally, one or two pages from the local district may serve during a week while the Legislature is in session,” Pike said. “This time, we had three, which was a treat. I found these young girls to be delightful, extremely intelligent and very helpful to our legislative process.”
DuBois and Pullella Barca are both 16-year-old students at Vancouver iTech Preparatory School. They said participation as legislative pages has been “a great learning experience” for them.
“I really liked watching from the floor all the bills being passed and all the action,” DuBois said. “It was really cool being here.”
“I was really interested by how personable all the representatives are on the House floor,” Pullella Barca said. “We were able to interact with them. They asked us trivia about how the legislative system worked and they were very fun to interact with, while at the same time being very professional about their jobs. We were away from school, but we got a lot of time in the page room that we could get caught up with our studies, so that was really helpful for us.”
Curtiss is a 15-year-old student at River HomeLink School in Battle Ground.
“I thought it was really interesting just watching the whole process, going to committee hearings and seeing bills passed from the floor,” said Curtiss. “It’s really cool to see all the communication that goes on between representatives, lobbyists and others.”
Curtiss is a leader in her local youth group organization. She is also the sophomore president at her school. Her parents are Neal and Julie Curtiss from Brush Prairie.
Pullella Barca enjoys playing soccer and piano. She also loves rock climbing and is involved in several leadership clubs.
“Public service is something that has always interested me. I really love interacting with people,” she said. “This experience has shown me the political side of it and the personal interaction – how important it is to have that one-on-one communication level.”
Pullella Barca is the daughter of Ron Barca and Nettie Pullella Barca of Battle Ground.
DuBois enjoys singing, dancing, acting, drawing and reading. She is the daughter of Peter DuBois and Ingrid Dankmeyer, both of Battle Ground.
Pike interviewed the three pages on her Legislative Update video program. Watch the video at http://tinyurl.com/PikePages.
Each year, students from around the state apply to participate in the legislative page program. Students spend a week attending page school, learning the inner workings of state government and assisting legislators on the House floor. Pages earn $35 per day while serving in the program.
To become a page, applicants must have a legislative sponsor, be between the ages of 14 and 16, and obtain written permission from their parents and school. For more information about the legislative page program, visit http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Pages/HousePageProgram.aspx.
