Mason County High School student Tori Lavinder is one of only 30 students chosen nationwide for the Senate Page program.
Lavinder is a 16-year-old junior at MCHS.
Each semester 15 girls and 15 boys are chosen for the coveted role of Senate Page and the process is not easy Lavinder said.
“I sent in my application on June 14, to Washington D.C. and all of the staff reviewed it, then I got the call on July 21. It required an essay, my high school transcript, a resume,” Lavinder said. Lavinder’s mother Jessica Lavinder said she also needed three letters of recommendation which were provided by City Commissioner Ann Brammer, State Representative William Lawrence and local businessman Doug Hendrickson.
Participants are chosen by a senator and many students apply to more than one for a chance to be Senate Page but Lavinder said she only applied to Senator Mitch McConnell.
“I only applied through his office because I knew if I did the Senate Page program I wanted to it to be somebody from Kentucky. I wanted to represent Kentucky fully so I only applied to Mitch McConnell,” she said.
She said she is both excited and nervous to be away from her family for the duration of the program which takes place in Washington D.C. starting in September and ending in January.
“My main headquarters is the Cloakroom. I’ll start my day at 6 a.m. with school which ends at 9:45 a.m. and then at 10 a.m., I will start preparing the chambers for senate sessions. Essentially what I will be doing is printing copies, check the chambers, writing down transcripts or copying speeches given in Congress that day,” she said.
She will be living in a residence hall on Capitol Hill.
Between school and work her day might not end until well after 6 p.m. Lavinder said.
“I know it may be taxing, being away from family like that. Fortunately, I do get to come home for Christmas. It will be hard being away from my family that long but I will have 29 other kids there going through the same thing and I think it will be a good thing for all of us to go through that together,” she said.
Though students are allowed to go home on the weekends if they choose, Lavinder said she is planning on limiting her trips home so she will not be tempted to stay home.
“I am kind of giving myself that no choice but to stay mentality and I think that will make it easier, I also think I will be so busy that I won’t have time to focus on missing home,” she said.
The freedom of being on her own and gaining independence has some appeal she said though she is aware the program has strict rules she will live by for the duration.
“The part that I will probably struggle with the most is that I will have no access to a phone except on the weekends I go home. It will be a bit of an adjustment, I think it will be a good adjustment though,” she said.
Excitement and anticipation of the experience far outweighs any negatives and Lavinder said it is also a comfort to know the other students will have the same limitations making her feel like she is not alone.
“I just cannot wait. I am so excited to take this journey and see what all it entails,” she said.
To prevent disappointment if she was not chosen as Senate Page, Lavinder said before getting the call that she was chosen she had convinced herself she would not be.
She said she and her family were on vacation when the call came in and she was shocked and thrilled to be given the opportunity which she had convinced herself she would never have.
Working in politics one day is something Lavinder could see in her future and she is particularly interested in immigration law.
For the next two years until she graduates high school, Lavinder will continue in other organizations she is involved in such as the Y-Club, which she said is a youth and government club that works closely with Limestone YMCA, she is also in KUNA (Kentucky United Nations Assemble) and CONA (Conference of National Affairs).
“I get to organize the voter registration drives the Y Club puts on for state-wide events. I am my school’s Y Club president, we attend two conferences every year for KYA which is basically youth legislation. Then KUNA which is united nations work so we write resolutions and things like that. The last two summers and for the next two summers I participate in the Conference of National Affairs which is all about writing proposals and debating and talking about important national things going on around us,” she said.
Jessica Lavinder said she is very proud of her daughter’s accomplishments and said she has always been highly motivated and ambitious.
“It just brought tears to my eyes (when her daughter received the call of acceptance in the program) she is such a hard worker and so determined, when she sets her mind to something she just does it. I am so proud,” Jessica Lavinder said.
