♪♪ ♪♪ It's definitely different days every single day.

Nothing is the same ever.

So, I come in at about 7:50 a.m. We have committee meetings and subcommittee meetings and then we're on the floor.

Representatives will ask you to do things for them.

Get whatever they need like bills or coffee or whatever.

It's not even really that gradual.

Like one week will be slow and then the week after that just really hammer down and put on the gas.

♪♪ (gavel) The House will be in order.

The prayer today will be offered by Representative Gustoff of Polk.

Following the prayer, the pledge will be led by Samantha Olson, our Page from Ankeny.

(gavel) So, for this week one, Olivia I have you on the bill, okay?

Irina, I have you on the switchboard this week.

Iowa House switchboard, how can I direct your call?

And then, mail room and printers, Peyton I have you on that this week.

So, you're all set?

Okay, good.

[Nebbe] The Iowa legislature hires pages each session to assist in the House and Senate chambers.

They are high school students from all over the state, selected from a competitive pool of applicants.

It's a paying job and they gain valuable experience in government.

-- pertaining to 20 over the speed limit.

[Jason Chapman] We give them a couple of weeks to get their feet on the ground.

They spend most of their day on the floor passing notes out, passing mail to different desks.

♪♪ [Jesse Sampson] Notes come in, they are handed to a door keeper, the door keeper brings them over to a desk and presses this button, which alerts us on our board that sits right behind me.

(bell dings) [Jesse Sampson] And the board will tell us where it's coming from.

[Mariana Florez] And so then we take it to the representative.

If they're not here, we go back and say hey, do you want to leave a message for them because they're not here currently.

Or if they are here, we send them out and they go out and talk to them.

[Jesse Sampson] Periodically they'll give us tasks like I've had to put stamps on envelopes.

Pretty much just anything the representatives ask us to do for them that we are there to do it.

We make their load a bit lighter.

(bell dings) The bill here tries to clean up any confusion we might have had -- [Mariana Florez] We run the subcommittees and committees.

[Peyton Hoffman] So, we get here about ten, fifteen minutes before the meetings starts and log into the computer and get the livestream up and running.

And then we just sit.

[Mariana Florez] Anybody can join, the public can join.

They don't get to talk on there.

They can talk in person.

I truthfully didn't know anything that happened, like the subcommittees to committees and then to the floor and then it goes to the Senate or the Senate sends it over here and then it goes to the Governor.

So, all the processes are really interesting.

♪♪ [Irina Ahissou] We have a page uniform that we wear every day.

They supply us with our blazers, pants and the only thing that we get freedom on is our shirts.

But they have to be white.

[Mariana Florez] I think the biggest two rules that stood out to me was you can't walk down the middle aisle.

Good morning, Mr. Speaker.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the House.

[Irina Ahissou] We can't cross the line of vision between the Speaker and a Representative who is talking to them in session or in debate, things like that.

[Jesse Sampson] We also have to be respectful, understand that they are a lot higher position than us and that is our job is to do the things that they ask us to do.

♪♪ [Jason Chapman] We tell the pages that just like the rest of the staff, the professional staff that are here year-round that work for that same office, we're kind of statues on the floor.

We don't show emotion, we don't show eye rolls if somebody says something that we don't agree with and we definitely do not clap or cheer on the floor.

It's a decorum, it's a set of rules that help this place function in the heat of emotion.

♪♪ [Rep. Megan Jones] I am a State Representative from House District 6, which is basically Spencer to Storm Lake.

When I became a page, it allowed me an opportunity to move to Des Moines, be in an apartment with a couple of other pages, friends.

I came in this scared, meek, seventeen-year-old page and I found a network of people that fit me really well.

I gained a lot of confidence.

I got to interact with legislators and people in a world that I really wanted to be a part of.

And so, I really think it helped me kind of find my way and be more confident in where I was headed.

[Mariana Florez] My favorite part is probably getting to know the legislators, all of the representatives and to hear where they have come from and how they got here.

[Irina Ahissou] I've met a couple of my best friends here so that has been awesome.

[Jesse Sampson] So, for me this is my first real job experience and I think it is a really, really good place to start.

It has taught me how to be professional.

♪♪ [Rep. Megan Jones] I think young people have an amazing role to play at the Capitol because they provide that energy, but also a good reminder of why we're here and that they matter too and that we need to remember why we're talking about Regent funding and why we're talking about our colleges and why we're talking about being career ready and why we're talking about making sure that we have, our young people have the skill sets that are needed in our environment and our economy.

♪♪ [Mariana Florez] To see all the legislators work together, even if they oppose each other, and what they believe is different.

They still are civil and they work together really well.

And something I'm going to remember of how to do that and how I can achieve to be like them.

♪♪ [Jesse Sampson] I love this building a lot.

It's pretty much my favorite building ever.

So, I love being here and being able to be here every day.

It's an amazing opportunity.

♪♪