Posted: 1:12 PM - Nov 23, 2003
As webmaster of The Robert Mackay Clan website I want to take this time to recognize a member of our family who has been able to do something that few other kids her age would ever have the opportunity to do.
Alexandra L. McKay has been able to serve as a Page in the U.S. Congress.
Best of luck to you in the future!!
Two articles appeared in The Winchester Star about this which are as follows:
From The Winchester Star dated Saturday, November 22, 2003.
BERRYVILLE — U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf’s chief of staff
had better watch out. Alexandra L. McKay has her eye on his job.
McKay, 16, a junior at Clarke County High School, spent three weeks in June serving as a page in, and under, the halls of the U.S. Congress.
“I learned a lot about politics,” McKay said recently, and she had some unique experiences.
Standing on the floor of the House of Delegates during the debate on Medicare was one. Another was sitting on the floor after a session debating whether democracy is a good idea.
McKay found the Congressional Page Program while surfing the Internet, looking for something fun and interesting to do for the summer.
The Page Program dates back to the 1800s, McKay said, when 9-year-old boys were recruited to serve in Congress.
Then, “You could spend your entire life as a page,” McKay said.
Women weren’t admitted to the program until 1973, McKay said.
To qualify for her three weeks with Congress, McKay had to apply and win the backing of Wolf, her Republican 10th District representative.
The job involved learning a lot of things quickly, meeting lots of new people, getting a crash course in politics, and, often, being bored.
A typical day started at 7 a.m. with breakfast in the cafeteria of the Congressional Office Building.
Then, a train ride through the tunnels brought the pages to Capitol Hill.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, entering the building means traversing a metal detector. McKay learned quickly, “You can’t wear bracelets.”
Then, the pages go to the House floor to get their assignments.
Pages carry out a number of duties. Flag duty is one of them.
Groups and organizations can purchase flags that have been flown over the Capitol. To keep up with consumer demand, McKay said, there are nine or 10 flagpoles on Capitol Hill and flags are run up the poles, flown for 30 seconds, and brought down.
At least three pages spend the morning delivering flags to the Congressional offices that ask for them.
“I delivered 56 flags in one day,” McKay said. “I never want to see another flag box.”
Cloakroom pages take messages for the various congressional representatives.
“You have to memorize all the congressmen’s names and faces,” McKay said. The pages use flashcards to imprint the necessary information on their brains quickly. Democrats and Republicans have separate cloakrooms. The Republican cloakroom is decorated in red, the Democrats’ in blue.
During McKay’s stay in June, there were 50 GOP pages, too many to fit in the cloakroom at one time, so some were sent to a waiting area in the basement, which they called the “page cage.”
Most of the pages served as runners, McKay said. Congressmen would call the page desk and ask for a “runner” to pick up something and carry it somewhere.
Each page was expected to make at least six runs per day. “The least I did was five; the most, 20. I got a lot of exercise.”
Floor pages work on the House floor. Duties range from collecting vote tallies and carrying them to be recorded to replacing a congressman’s tie.
No one is allowed on the floor of the House without a tie, McKay said.
The pages themselves are also subject to a dress code. A white shirt or blouse, gray skirt or pants, Navy blue blazer, black shoes, and, for the women, nude hose.
When issues are being debated, the pages often spend a lot of time standing against the back wall, waiting for something to do. “We’re living wallpaper,” McKay said.
Pages live together in the old FBI building, McKay said, which is now the Page Residence Hall. Two to four girls share a room, and three to six boys bunk together.
“They were huge rooms,” McKay said.
The pages work from 7 a.m. to about 6 p.m., McKay said — longer if the House stayed late in session.
While pages have a 10 p.m. curfew, “pow wows” often kept them up until the wee hours of the morning.
“I got to meet kids from around the country,” McKay said, and all of them were vitally interested in politics. McKay, whose father is chairman of the Clarke County Republican Committee, said she felt right at home with these total strangers.
“We’d sit around and talk about things. We had the same debates as the congressmen,” she said. “At Clarke County High (School), you don’t find people interested in what I’m interested in.”
McKay found the country’s lawmakers to be hardworking.
“They do a lot more than it looks like on C-SPAN,” she said. “They love what they do. They vote the way they feel.”
She also found them friendly.
“The first week there, I couldn’t make eye contact with anybody. By the third week, I could sit there and talk to them all.”
While the Republicans and Democrats may attack each other over policies, they actually get along well, McKay said.
“No matter what they tell you, all those people like each other.”
However, she said, the two parties don’t mind heckling each other.
When the Medicare changes failed to pass during her stint as a page, McKay said the Democrats decorated their cloakroom wall with tombstones and a sign that stated, “Grandma got run over by the GOP.”
Some even sported black armbands, she said. “Days like that were fun!”
While the summer Page Program that McKay participated in only lasts three to four weeks, there is a winter program that runs closer to five months, McKay said. Pages in that program actually go to school at the Capitol.
The program also offers activities for the pages on weekends. McKay visited many museums in Washington, D.C., and there were also trips to places like Hershey Park in Hershey, Pa.
McKay said the experience in Washington changed her direction slightly. Instead of eyeing the White House, she now wants a career on Capitol Hill.
“I want to be there,” she said, but she doesn’t plan to run for elective office.
“I want to be a staffer. I don’t want to do that whole thing where everybody has to love you.”
Since she has been back home, McKay has helped Republican Clarke County Supervisor A.R. “Pete” Dunning Jr. with his re-election campaign and worked with her father on some local GOP efforts.
“I still watch a lot of news,” McKay admitted, noting that all the pages devoured newspaper and television accounts of politics.
“I’m thinking of starting a 12-step program for those addicted to C-SPAN,” she said with a laugh. “It’s definitely made me more obsessive.”
Her next step in learning more about her future career path is to seek a week-long internship with state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester, in Richmond next year.
Then, after high school, she plans to earn a degree from a women’s college like Randolph Macon.
“Seventy-five percent of all women who succeed in male endeavors graduate from women’s colleges,” she said.
A third of the women executives in Fortune 500 jobs also attended all-girl schools or Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, she added.
“I don’t want to go to a school where I’d get lost.” After college, perhaps a detour through law school before heading to Washington.
Then, Dan Scandling, Wolf’s chief of staff, better look out.
(Recently, Alex was in the Miss Clarke County Fair Pageant where she placed 2nd Runner up.)
Alexandra L. McKay has been able to serve as a Page in the U.S. Congress.
Best of luck to you in the future!!
Two articles appeared in The Winchester Star about this which are as follows:
From The Winchester Star dated Saturday, November 22, 2003.
Congressional Page Eyes a Career on Capitol Hill
Clarke County Student Spends 3 Weeks Getting a Behind- the-Scenes Look at the Nation’s Political Machine
By Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star
Clarke County Student Spends 3 Weeks Getting a Behind- the-Scenes Look at the Nation’s Political Machine
By Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star
 Clarke County High School junior Alexandra L. McKay, 16, wears the jacket and tie she sported during her three- week stint as a page in the House of Delegates. She is standing behind her family’s business, McKay’s Flooring and Interiors in Berryville, where a wall is painted with the portraits of Gen. Robert E. Lee (from left), Col. John S. Mosby, and Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
(Photo by Jeff Taylor)
|
McKay, 16, a junior at Clarke County High School, spent three weeks in June serving as a page in, and under, the halls of the U.S. Congress.
“I learned a lot about politics,” McKay said recently, and she had some unique experiences.
Standing on the floor of the House of Delegates during the debate on Medicare was one. Another was sitting on the floor after a session debating whether democracy is a good idea.
McKay found the Congressional Page Program while surfing the Internet, looking for something fun and interesting to do for the summer.
The Page Program dates back to the 1800s, McKay said, when 9-year-old boys were recruited to serve in Congress.
Then, “You could spend your entire life as a page,” McKay said.
Women weren’t admitted to the program until 1973, McKay said.
To qualify for her three weeks with Congress, McKay had to apply and win the backing of Wolf, her Republican 10th District representative.
The job involved learning a lot of things quickly, meeting lots of new people, getting a crash course in politics, and, often, being bored.
A typical day started at 7 a.m. with breakfast in the cafeteria of the Congressional Office Building.
Then, a train ride through the tunnels brought the pages to Capitol Hill.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, entering the building means traversing a metal detector. McKay learned quickly, “You can’t wear bracelets.”
Then, the pages go to the House floor to get their assignments.
Pages carry out a number of duties. Flag duty is one of them.
Groups and organizations can purchase flags that have been flown over the Capitol. To keep up with consumer demand, McKay said, there are nine or 10 flagpoles on Capitol Hill and flags are run up the poles, flown for 30 seconds, and brought down.
At least three pages spend the morning delivering flags to the Congressional offices that ask for them.
“I delivered 56 flags in one day,” McKay said. “I never want to see another flag box.”
Cloakroom pages take messages for the various congressional representatives.
“You have to memorize all the congressmen’s names and faces,” McKay said. The pages use flashcards to imprint the necessary information on their brains quickly. Democrats and Republicans have separate cloakrooms. The Republican cloakroom is decorated in red, the Democrats’ in blue.
During McKay’s stay in June, there were 50 GOP pages, too many to fit in the cloakroom at one time, so some were sent to a waiting area in the basement, which they called the “page cage.”
Most of the pages served as runners, McKay said. Congressmen would call the page desk and ask for a “runner” to pick up something and carry it somewhere.
Each page was expected to make at least six runs per day. “The least I did was five; the most, 20. I got a lot of exercise.”
Floor pages work on the House floor. Duties range from collecting vote tallies and carrying them to be recorded to replacing a congressman’s tie.
No one is allowed on the floor of the House without a tie, McKay said.
The pages themselves are also subject to a dress code. A white shirt or blouse, gray skirt or pants, Navy blue blazer, black shoes, and, for the women, nude hose.
When issues are being debated, the pages often spend a lot of time standing against the back wall, waiting for something to do. “We’re living wallpaper,” McKay said.
Pages live together in the old FBI building, McKay said, which is now the Page Residence Hall. Two to four girls share a room, and three to six boys bunk together.
“They were huge rooms,” McKay said.
The pages work from 7 a.m. to about 6 p.m., McKay said — longer if the House stayed late in session.
While pages have a 10 p.m. curfew, “pow wows” often kept them up until the wee hours of the morning.
“I got to meet kids from around the country,” McKay said, and all of them were vitally interested in politics. McKay, whose father is chairman of the Clarke County Republican Committee, said she felt right at home with these total strangers.
“We’d sit around and talk about things. We had the same debates as the congressmen,” she said. “At Clarke County High (School), you don’t find people interested in what I’m interested in.”
McKay found the country’s lawmakers to be hardworking.
“They do a lot more than it looks like on C-SPAN,” she said. “They love what they do. They vote the way they feel.”
She also found them friendly.
“The first week there, I couldn’t make eye contact with anybody. By the third week, I could sit there and talk to them all.”
While the Republicans and Democrats may attack each other over policies, they actually get along well, McKay said.
“No matter what they tell you, all those people like each other.”
However, she said, the two parties don’t mind heckling each other.
When the Medicare changes failed to pass during her stint as a page, McKay said the Democrats decorated their cloakroom wall with tombstones and a sign that stated, “Grandma got run over by the GOP.”
Some even sported black armbands, she said. “Days like that were fun!”
While the summer Page Program that McKay participated in only lasts three to four weeks, there is a winter program that runs closer to five months, McKay said. Pages in that program actually go to school at the Capitol.
The program also offers activities for the pages on weekends. McKay visited many museums in Washington, D.C., and there were also trips to places like Hershey Park in Hershey, Pa.
McKay said the experience in Washington changed her direction slightly. Instead of eyeing the White House, she now wants a career on Capitol Hill.
“I want to be there,” she said, but she doesn’t plan to run for elective office.
“I want to be a staffer. I don’t want to do that whole thing where everybody has to love you.”
Since she has been back home, McKay has helped Republican Clarke County Supervisor A.R. “Pete” Dunning Jr. with his re-election campaign and worked with her father on some local GOP efforts.
“I still watch a lot of news,” McKay admitted, noting that all the pages devoured newspaper and television accounts of politics.
“I’m thinking of starting a 12-step program for those addicted to C-SPAN,” she said with a laugh. “It’s definitely made me more obsessive.”
Her next step in learning more about her future career path is to seek a week-long internship with state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester, in Richmond next year.
Then, after high school, she plans to earn a degree from a women’s college like Randolph Macon.
“Seventy-five percent of all women who succeed in male endeavors graduate from women’s colleges,” she said.
A third of the women executives in Fortune 500 jobs also attended all-girl schools or Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, she added.
“I don’t want to go to a school where I’d get lost.” After college, perhaps a detour through law school before heading to Washington.
Then, Dan Scandling, Wolf’s chief of staff, better look out.
(Recently, Alex was in the Miss Clarke County Fair Pageant where she placed 2nd Runner up.)