Published: April 04, 2007 11:40 am         

Local high school student serves as page for State Senate

OKLAHOMA CITY — Tuttle High School student Jennifer Teten recently served as a page for Senator Anthony Sykes at the Oklahoma State Senate.

Pages provide important services during busy legislative sessions. They assist in committee meeting sand daily sessions of the full Senate. They also help shuttle messages to Senators in the Chamber from other legislators and Senate staff.

The page program provides students with the educational experience of learning about the legislative process firsthand. They get to participate in mock sessions known as "Pageville" where they assume the responsibilities of legislative officials and others involved in the process. This, along with actually assisting the Senators and Senate staff, helps teach them about the legislative process and how bill become law.

During the week, the pages also had the opportunity to tour the Capitol and the Oklahoma History Center as well as meet Gov. Brad Henry and Lt. Gov. Jari Askins. The pages also got to witness a somewhat rare and historic occurrence in the legislative process. On Wednesday, Governor Henry vetoed much of the general appropriations bill, which contained the FY '08 budget. The measure had received approval from a majority of both houses.

"The page program is a wonderful learning tool for our youngest citizens and I'm so glad that Jennifer took advantage of it," said Sykes, R-Moore. "She was a tremendous help and we were glad to have her."

Jennifer served at the Capitol during the 8th week of the Legislative Session, from March 26-29.