[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H6244-H6245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FAREWELL TO PAGES

  (Mr. KILDEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the House Page Board, I would 
like to take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude to all 
the pages, some of whom we have here tonight, for all they have done to 
serve so diligently in the House of Representatives during the 110th 
and 111th Congresses.
  I have attached a list of the fine young men who have served this 
House as pages, along with the young ladies, who when I first came here 
were not pages. You have seen the progress of this country also.
  I have attached a list of the fine young people who have served this 
House as pages, and their names will be made part of the Congressional 
Record.
  We all recognize the important role that congressional pages play in 
helping the U.S. House of Representatives operate. These groups of 
young people, who come from all across our Nation, represent what is 
good about our country.
  To become a page, Mr. Speaker, these young people have proven 
themselves to be academically qualified. They have ventured away from 
the security of their homes and families to spend time in an unfamiliar 
city. Through this experience, they have witnessed a new culture, made 
new friends, and learned the details of how our government operates.
  As we all know, the job of a congressional page is not an easy one. 
Along with being away from home, the pages must possess the maturity to 
balance competing demands for their time and their energy. In addition, 
they must have the dedication to work long hours and the ability to 
interact with people at a personal level. At the same time, they face a 
challenging academic schedule of classes in the House Page School.
  You pages who are here tonight, and those who may be listening, have 
witnessed the House debate issues of war and peace, hunger and poverty, 
justice and civil rights. And between the 110th and the 111th Congress, 
you have seen the occupant of the White House change.
  You have lived through history.
  You have seen Congress at moments of greatness and you have seen 
Congress with its frailties. You have witnessed the workings of an 
institution that has endured well over 200 years.
  No one has seen Congress and Members of Congress as close up as have 
you. I am sure that you will consider your time spent in Washington, 
D.C., to be one of the most valuable and exciting experiences of your 
lives, and that with this experience, you will all move ahead to lead 
successful and productive lives.
  Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the House Page Board, I ask my colleagues 
to join me in honoring this group of distinguished young Americans. 
They certainly will be missed.
  As I walk by the desk on both sides, I like to say hello to you. And 
I'm proud of you, and you have given the Page Board much to be proud of 
this year. You certainly will be missed.
  And before yielding, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the members 
of the House Page Board who provide us such fantastic service to this 
institution:
  Congressman Rob Bishop, the vice Chair of the Page Board; 
Congresswoman Diana DeGette; Congresswoman Virginia Foxx; Clerk of the 
House, Lorraine Miller; Sergeant at Arms, Bill Livingood; Ms. Lynn 
Silversmith Klein and Mr. Adam Jones. I want to thank them for their 
service on the House Page Board.
  I thank you all, our departing pages.
  And, Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield my time to the vice Chair of 
the Page Board and my friend, Mr. Bishop of Utah.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I thank my good friend from Michigan for yielding 
time.
  It has been an enjoyable time being a part of the Page Board as part 
of the page process. To the pages who are here and the ones who are not 
here because you still have to do work in the

[[Page H6245]]

morning, we are very grateful for your having joined us here, some for 
a semester, some of you for a year, but for your time and your 
dedication in helping to serve the House of Representatives.
  I think, if nothing else, you have written many eloquent words about 
what you have seen and what you have not seen and what you have 
experienced here. But, if nothing else, I hope that it instilled within 
you this idea the United States had of self-government still does work, 
that you put together people who are not experts, not trained to be 
parliamentarians, put us all together and give us the information and 
still, in a very cumbersome process, we can come up with the right 
answers and with solutions.
  Man can govern himself.
  Through all the years that I have stayed involved in politics, first 
in the State legislative system and then here in Congress, I still come 
back to that one belief: The system of self-government does work. 
People can govern themselves.
  And that is the positive element that I hope you take with you back 
home as you return from this experience here in Washington, D.C.
  So the pages who are here, the pages who are still part of the 
program and not here this evening, we are thankful for you. We are 
grateful for you. We hope you have had a wonderful experience, and we 
hope you take back some kind of thrill of the idea of participating in 
government with you as you go back to your homes and continue on with 
your education.
  Mr. KILDEE. If I might add, that among all of your accomplishments 
here, one thing the pages have done, you and your predecessors have 
really seen at least one unit of the House that is totally nonpartisan. 
We work together so closely because of our concern for you that we 
always arrive by consensus at the decisions we make in the Page Board. 
Our concern for you is that great.
  I consider Rob Bishop one of my very special friends. We don't always 
vote alike on other things, but we always reach agreement when it comes 
to the pages to help us realize that we should come together on those 
things that are extremely important, and there are probably some other 
things we can probably do that on, too.
  Thank you very much. God bless all of you.

                        Fall 2008 Session Pages


                         REPUBLICAN PAGES (24)

       Corinne Austin-R
       John Brinkerhoff-R
       Sara Bromley-R
       Riley Brosnan-R
       Paige Burke-R
       Eaghan Davis-R
       Ella Davis-R
       Evan Elsmo-R
       Adidoreydi Gutierrez-R
       Caroline Hill-R
       Rebecca Jacobson-R
       Audrey Knickel-R
       Elizabeth Matenkoski-R
       Denee McKoy-R
       Caroline Miller-R
       Parker Mortensen-R
       Andy Nguyen-R
       Nathan Pike-R
       Emily Raines-R
       Trace Robbins-R
       Rory Roccio-R
       Jessica Starr-R
       Nebyat Teklu-R
       Sean West-R


                          DEMOCRAT PAGES (36)

       Jonathan Bigelow-D
       Priscilla Brock-D
       Rachel Chavez-D
       Campbell Curry-Ledbetter-D
       Joseph Dellasanta-D
       Julie Ebling-D
       Michelle Flores-Carranza-D
       Trevor Foley-D
       Rachel Fybel-D
       Daniel Grages-D
       Haley Hannon-D
       Erin Hawkins-D
       Jasmine Jennings-D
       Leah Jones-D
       Sara Katz-D
       Evan Kolb-D
       Monica Laskos-D
       Alexander Leiro-D
       Alexander Lichtenstein-D
       Anjelica Magee-D
       Sophia Mai-D
       Nicole Mammoser-D
       Edson Martinez-D
       Margaret Mikus-D
       Mary Miller-D
       Eric Polanco-D
       Tre'Shawndra Postell-D
       Anna Pritchard-D
       Manasa Reddy-D
       Sacha Samotin-D
       Samantha Schiber-D
       Joseph Tanner, Jr.-D
       Raven Tarrance-D
       Nicholas Wisti-D
       Cameron Younger-D
       Anam Zahra-D

                    Spring 09 Page Class (68 Pages)


                            Democratic Pages

       1. Kate M. Lonergan
       2. Rena L. Wang
       3. Jose Echevarria-Acosta
       4. Ashley M. Sharpe
       5. Ashlee E. Dubra
       6. David G. Greenblatt
       7. Benjamin D. Talkington
       8. Joseph T. Oslund
       9. Marissa E. Williams
       10. Stephen E. Seely
       11. Allison Ko
       12. Sally Phang
       13. Margaret A. McDermut
       14. Caleb C. Overgaard
       15. Tucker A. Travis
       16. Olivia H. Rutter
       17. Megan E. Jeffries
       18. Hayden M. Hislop
       19. Bernadette V. Silva
       20. Sarah C. Kovar
       21. Cameron W. Smalls
       22. Logan C. Davis
       23. Crystal Williams
       24. Matthew J. Furlow
       25. Haley P. Whiteside
       26. Haian H. Nguyen
       27. Sabrina E. Anderson
       28. Blagica Madzarova
       29. Campbell Curry-Ledbetter
       30. Samantha Schiber
       31. Sacha Samotin
       32. Michelle Flores-Carranza
       33. Manasa Reddy
       34. Jasmine Jennings
       35. Raven Tarrance
       36. Anam Zahra
       37. Alex Leiro
       38. Sophia Mai
       39. Erin Hawkins
       40. Alex Litchenstein
       41. Nicole Mammoser
       42. Anjelica Magee
       43. Monica Laskos
       44. Priscilla Brock


                            Republican Pages

       45. Alexander C. Gaillard
       46. Melissa M. Young
       47. Samantha L. Heaslip
       48. Audrey C. Scagnelli
       49. Levi S. Craghead
       50. Dillon L. Shoemaker
       51. Taylor A. Imperiale
       52. Hannah M. Dudley
       53. Courtney A. Doolittle
       54. Anna E. Wherry
       55. Nicholas R. Humann
       56. Anthony R. Siviglia
       57. Cody D. Willming
       58. Alex R. Bruner
       59. Jessica L. Schneider
       60. Ella Davis
       61. John Brinkerhoff
       62. Sean West
       63. Emily Raines
       64. Rory Roccio
       65. Andy Nguyen
       66. Audrey Knickel
       67. Trace Robbins
       68. Nebyat Teklu
       Italics indicate returning Pages

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