I had the honor of serving Maryland’s General Assembly as a page for the Senate this year. The job description includes running errands and completing any necessary tasks for the body, but I learned how to do a lot more than filing bill books and grabbing coffee. Paging was the single greatest experience of my senior year, and here are some lessons that I think even non-government students can take away from.

Even politicians are humans. I have a tendency to completely idolize my heroes, and distain with those I don’t agree with. While watching senators debate on the floor, true colors began to emerge. I was surprised by how some Senators acted, treated me, and voted. They are only human, so they are fallible. They don’t pay attention when others speak, text, say embarrassing things, cuss, make fun of others, and even take off their glasses and proceed to pick their ears. I have been told I cannot be a politician because I get too fired up. I need to learn how to be “calm.” (I think this probably just stems from me being a woman, if a woman loses her cool it’s totally unacceptable, but when men do it, another story.) One senator while debating exclaimed she would throw a chair. YES! I screamed in my head. You don’t always have to have a poker face, you can show your god given human emotions. This was important for me to witness. I’ve always wanted to be a politician, which has caused me to polish myself in pursuit of perfection. I figure if I have flaws, I can’t be the great legislator I aspire to. How can you make mistakes when everyone has their eyes on you? It turns out: you still can. Every human makes mistakes. Every human. You, me, George Bush, Barack Obama, Senator Nancy King… I retract that statement. Senator Nancy King represents Montgomery County in Annapolis, I have a serious crush on her, and she is infallible. She is perfect in every way.

You can agree with a contrary party and disagree with your own. This is a difficult lesson to learn for a diehard Democrat that immediately loathes anything a Republican touches. I blame it somewhat on the federal government, like Congress. In Washington, everything is politics. If the president supports something, Republicans don’t, and vice-versa. In Annapolis, there is still partisanship, but not as severe. This amazing thing happens there. Republicans and Democrats vote together on many issues. Just because the opposing side of the argument likes it, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Remember the last rule we learned? Even politicians are human, so it only makes sense that other party comes up with good ideas and alternatives to fill your weaknesses.

Always fight for what you believe in, but choose your fights wisely. I observed a lot of debate on a variety of bills in my two weeks in Annapolis. Some senators were debating a bill in regards to LWOP (Life Without Parole) for minors. Some wanted to add an amendment to abolish allowing minors to be sentenced LWOP, or an LWOP decision without a jury present. They probably didn’t have the votes to pass the amendments they proposed, but nevertheless they fought. Even if you think you can’t win—still fight. If you don’t stand up for what’s important, even if it’s difficult, who will? Improvements will never be made. It touched me how much these senators cared about young people. But, this rule is a double-edged sword. There was one debate on a bill that was purely out of stubbornness. One lone senator argued for a different bill, and used outlandish examples to support their argument, comprised of pointing out the war crimes of Abraham Lincoln. Don’t waste the valuable time of yourself and others just to be right. Admit defeat with grace when necessary.

Take advice. Don’t take some advice. One of my most memorable experiences while paging was a not so great one. I was discussing my college and future plans with a senator. I told them I was studying Political Science at American University, and they replied “not bad.” I also informed them that I aspire to be a politician. They then gave me a look of consternation and proceeded to tell me something like, “I’m weary of young people wanting to get involved in politics. I-I- just don’t know about it,” and rambled on, to which I couldn’t quite follow. This broke my heart. The only thing I’m good at is government. If I don’t have that, I don’t have anything. I had worked so hard to become a page, and here I am standing in front of this senator who tells me they’re not too sure about the whole young people in politics thing. After I pondered the conversation for a while, I realized that the advice wasn’t valuable to me. Of course young people should be involved in politics. This is our future, we have more at stake. Sometimes it takes the guts and vigor of young Americans to push change. Discouraging youth from involvement in any positive outlet is wrong, period.

Some students are held back a grade to advance their athletic careers. I got to meet many different people from across the great state of Maryland who were also paging. One boy told me that in 8^th grade, many outstanding male athletes are held back a grade in his area, so when they come to high school they have better and more matured bodies to play sports. This is kind of unrelated to the topic at hand, but still, this is awful. Sports have become too linchpin in America’s education paradigm. A student should never be circumscribed from academic excellence at the mercy of athletics. We say education is the most valuable asset one can acquire to our students, then we proceed to award scholarships to the premier schools of the nation solely based on athletic ability. We pay coaches more than professors. Athletes have long hours that takes them away from their studies, and they graduate with no real knowledge except how to play football better. Let’s separate sports from studies. If someone want to pursue a career as an athlete, then the obvious option should be the minor leagues, not college. I digress.

After learning the ins and outs of Maryland’s state government, I still love it. Actually, I love it even more. I want to be a politician like the dedicated, passionate, hardworking and kind senators in the Maryland General Assembly. I won’t be thwarted by sexism or other obstacles. Maybe even one day I can threaten to throw a chair. But, even if politics and government isn’t your calling, it is important to be involved in and understand the career you hope to pursue. Maybe the top curator at MoMA actually isn’t perfect, actually, he’s quite weird. When writing the pilot for a TV show, you actually might agree on an idea that’s not yours. If you’re an environmental scientist, don’t let big money discourage you from speaking out, fight for clean air and water. If a teacher discourages you from teaching, don’t let it completely unravel your life dreams. Most importantly—what are we going to do about this crazy sports culture? I’ll start drafting a new bill on it.