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I served as a House Page a few summers ago and saw a lot of CYLC/NYLF/etc kids around the Capitol on a regular basis. It seemed like a fun time, but when they got to hear Representatives speak they were often in a group of 500 sitting on the House floor (when Congress wasn’t in session, obviously) and only a few people got to ask questions. It was hard even for pages to see our Senators more than a few times when we were living two blocks away from the Capitol for months. When a couple pages asked some of the CYLC/NYLF supervisors how many of the kids actually got to meet their senators, they told us about 1 in 10. And when they did, it was often in really big groups. Meeting really “big names” is sort of cool, but when all you get to do is shake their hand and take a picture, or maybe be part of a large discussion, I’m not sure it’s worth thousands of dollars in comparison to other things. Being a page is wonderful (and you do NOT need to be from the DC area…most pages aren’t; room and board are taken out of a page’s salary). If that’s not an option, state/local Congressional offices or state/local government offices can be awesome too – you might not meet as many “big names” but you’ll get a MUCH more extensive, insightful view of how the political process looks by diving headfirst into it, even if it’s not as shiny or star-studded. Plus, you can save a few thousand dollars lol – internships like that are free, or even compensated!
The trip is much more than meeting your senator - I don’t even think they played this up on the application. We did get to meet with our congressmen though, in small groups.</p>