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August 15, 2003/Av 17 5763, Vol. 55, No. 51
Washington welcomes local teen
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Seventeen-year-old Stephanie Kelman spent part of her summer vacation chatting with Hilary Clinton, doing lunch with Dick Cheney and hanging out with Ross Perot's grandson, fittingly named Ross Perot III.
As a page in the U.S. Senate for three weeks this June, Kelman had the opportunity to see the inner workings of the Senate, rub elbows with important political figures and make new friends among the other pages.
Selected by Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, Kelman took part in the 150-year-old program that brings high school juniors to Washington to serve as messengers in the U.S. House and Senate.
Students participating in the page program during the school year attend high school classes before Congress convenes for the day. Because Kelman was selected for the three-week summer program, she and the other pages took field trips before going to work at 9 a.m. and working until 6 p.m. - or later. On Kelman's last night in Washington, she had to work until 2:30 a.m.
"It was the night Strom Thurmond died. It was also the night they passed the Medicare bill for prescription drugs," she recalls. "For about three hours that night, all the senators were at their desks and that never happens. When you watch C-Span you think all the senators are in there, but it's just one person talking and all the desks are empty. It was cool to see everyone in there all together."
The responsibilities of the pages include carrying documents between offices, getting water for the senators when they arrive, and making copies and phone calls. Kelman also volunteered in Kyl's office while she was there.
Pages are housed in a dormitory, and Kelman says the 30 pages housed in the dorm for the summer session became close friends. In fact, she will be going to Vermont over Labor Day weekend to visit one of her fellow pages.
Kelman, who will be a senior at Chaparral High School this fall, will serve as senior class vice president during the upcoming school year. She's looking forward to attending college next fall - her first choice is Penn State, although she's planning on applying to nearly a dozen schools across the country, including Stanford, Georgetown and Brown. She's thinking of studying international affairs or business and says she'd love to do an internship in Washington.
"Everyone working in the capital is under 30," she says. "They're the only ones who will work the long hours and the low pay."
Last year she participated in a program called All Stars, in which she did more than 80 hours of community service, including working at food banks and working with the elderly and with underprivileged children.
"We did a lot with Crockett Elementary School. We put on carnivals for them and we took them to the zoo. They are adorable little kids and they just love you," she says.
In addition to her volunteer work, Kelman keeps busy playing on the varsity lacrosse team at Chaparral and working at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center as a lifeguard.
Kelman lives in Phoenix with her parents, Marc and Ellen. Her older brother, Scott, 21, is a student at the University of Arizona. The family are members of Beth El Congregation.
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