Auburn School District No. 408
915 4th Street Northeast, Auburn, WA  98002

3/17/08

NEWS RELEASE
Auburn High School Freshman Participates in Senate Page Program

Auburn High School freshman Fred Strojan spent his mid-winter break crafting mock bills and observing the Legislature and other branches of state government in action. Fred was selected through a competitive application process to participate in Washington State’s weeklong Senate Page Program, one of the finest page programs in the country. According to Fred, “I wanted to see how our government operates and how our bills are passed.”

Senator Kastama from the 25th District selected Fred as his page and quickly brought Fred up to speed on the rules of being a page—like not to fall asleep on the floor, which was one of the more amusing rules, according to Fred.

Every day Fred and his fellow pages had two hours of government class. Sometimes they went into session. Fred got to sit near the main speaker, Brad Owen, one day. “The security guard would hand us a letter or information to deliver to the democratic or republican side,” says Fred. “And when the senate was reviewing a new law we would hand out information to the senators about the new law.”

The Senate Page Program also taught the pages how to draft and introduce bills. Fred and two other “senators” introduced Senate Bill 5867, which proposed to give teachers the ability to punish students in any way that they see fit. Fred acted as vice chairman during the session and was in charge of reading all bills. “I understand the three branches of government better, which will help me in high school civics class,” says Fred.

Fred also enjoyed mealtimes, as the food was prepared by a professional chef, who also cooks for Governor Gregoire. One afternoon Fred had lunch with Senator Kastama and discovered that a lot of Senator Kastama’s values and principles stem back to his childhood days growing up on a farm in Puyallup.

Another big bonus of the program was Fred got paid for his work. “I was expecting $210.00 but learned about taxes very quickly when my paycheck came in the mail,” smiles Fred.

Is politics in Fred’s future? Not at the moment. “I want to be a mechanical or civil engineer,” remarks Fred.

For more information, contact Amy Spence, public information officer, at 253-931-4713.