Thursday, June 28, 2012

Summer in DC, Part I


Will in front of Webster Hall, the Senate Page
Dorm on his first day ast a US Senate Page.
Will and I started Summer 2012 with a month in our nation's capitol, Washington DC. Will is serving as a Senate Page in the US Senate at the Capitol building. He was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Serving as a Senate Page is one of the best ways to learn how the Senate and our legislative branch of government work. Senate Pages can serve during the summers before their Junior or Senior years (Summer Page) or during their Junior year of high school (Semester Page). For more information on how you can apply to be a US Senate Page, you should contact your two senator's offices. Go to the Senator's Page to find a list of contact information for all US Senators. Since there are only a few dozen pages appointed for each session, competition for a Page position is tough. However, if you are a US citizen, 16-17 years old, have a GPA over 3.0/4.0 and good recommendations, you are eligible to apply. Senate Pages are paid for their service.



On June 19, Will had the honor of being the Youth Speaker at the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee Youth Wellness Dinner honoring Mrs. Debbie Dingell (the wife of the longest-serving member of the US Congress, John Dingell. The dinner was sponsored by the Congressional Award Foundation, and hosted by Sens. Harkin, Enzi, Franken and Isakson, the Senate HELP Committee and the US House Energy and Commerce Committee. Mrs. Dingell was honored for her years of service on behalf of women, children and families.

Some of the Energy and Commerce Committtee members
at the dinner to support Mrs. Dingell.


Will and Mrs. Dingell.
  
 

 

Program Manager for the
Congressional Award's Western
Region, Mark Stevans, with Will
   

Chairman of the Congressional
Award Foundation, Paxton Baker,
with Will and Mom
 




  





















On June 20th, we attended the 2012 Congressional Award Gold Medal Ceremony in the historic Cannon Caucus Room in the Cannon House Office Building. We met people from all over the US who were there to watch their family members receive the Congressional Award Gold Medal from Congress. The ceremony was pretty impressive. Wolf Blitzer from CNN was the master of ceremonies and he kept the program moving through all 100+ medal presentations. He talked about the projects that each medalist had participated in to win the award, and some of the projects were amazing. If you want to learn more about how you can earn the Congressional Award, you can visit their website at http://www.congressionalaward.org/ . After the ceremony, Will had to get back to his Senate Page duties, but Mom and I took one of the other Utah Medalists and her parents to lunch in the Member's Dining Room at the Capitol and for a capitol tour. It was a pretty fun day.

Will receiving his Congressional Award Gold Medal from
a member of congress, with Mr. Baker and Mr. Blitzer
looking on.
 
Four Utah medalists with the presenting
Congressman and Mr. Baker.

Our former DC neighbors and close friends came to
the ceremony to watch Will receive his medal.


Will with Wolf Blitzer of CNN.
  



No comments: