On January 11th, Delegate Christopher K. Peace (R-Hanover) welcomed Henry Atkinson, of Mechanicsville, to serve as a Page in the Virginia House of Delegates during the 2017 General Assembly session.
Henry Atkinson, Oak Knoll Middle School student with Del. Peace at the General Assembly Building
Henry Atkinson is a 7th grader at Oak Knoll Middle School, and his favorite class is science, where he enjoys learning more about our world and how it works. Henry excels at a number of sports, but he enjoys running track and swimming the most.
As for being chosen to represent the 97th District, Henry mentioned, “I will miss seeing my family every day. My favorite part of being a page is meeting new friends.”
“Henry is a smart young man with a very bright future,” said Peace. “I want to give him every opportunity to have this once in a lifetime experience. With a few members who were once pages, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the legislature one day.”
Each year the Speaker of the House of Delegate appoints 13 and 14-year-old youth from across the Commonwealth to serve as House pages during the regular session of the General Assembly. These young people assist the members of the House of Delegates, the House clerk’s staff, and other legislative staff in the daily duties required for the successful operation of the House of Delegates during the session.
The page workday begins promptly as 8:30 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m. A lunch break is provided. There is no weekend work except for the last Saturday of session. Pages collate bills for filing, deliver legislation and documents throughout the Capitol complex, and perform errands for members and staff of the House of Delegates during each day’s floor session and at committee meetings. Pages are also selected for assignments in specific House offices including the Speaker’s Office, the Clerk’s Office, the Enrolling Room, the Bill Room, the Fax Center and the Governor’s Office. Pages are trained for these assignments during the first two days of their employment. Every effort is made to provide each page with a variety of work assignments. All work assignments are important to the legislative process and should be performed in a professional manner.
While at work, pages are under the supervision of the Clerk and Executive Assistant to the Clerk, the Page Coordinator and Assistant Page Coordinator, and two Head Pages who served as pages the previous year. After work, pages have approximately two hours of unsupervised free time from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. reserved for eating dinner. It is mandatory that all pages reside at the hotel. There are two chaperons on duty at the hotel from 5:00 p.m. until 8:30 a.m. each day, Sunday through Friday.
A mandatory study hall is held at the hotel every Monday through Thursday evening from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Certified teachers supervise the pages and help individual students as needed. Pages are responsible for arranging with their schools and teachers the preferred method of taking tests and exams. For more information or to apply for future sessions, visit:
http://capclass.virginiageneralassembly.gov/PagePrograms/PagePrograms.html