La Conner High students schooled at state legislature

Timing in life is everything.

Before the COVID-10 pandemic led schools, colleges, and universities to shift courses to on-line instruction, a trio of La Conner High students were able to use the State Capitol as their government classroom.

MacQuaid Hiller and siblings James and Mia Carlton served as legislative pages in Olympia, filling wide-ranging roles vital to making the lawmaking process more efficient.

Hiller and the Carltons each spent a week last winter helping distribute legislative amendments and related material throughout the Capitol campus, assisting in various offices, delivering messages, and presenting the colors at the start of each day’s legislative session.

Hiller worked on the Senate floor, while the Carltons carried out assignments on the House side.

Their contributions didn’t go unnoticed.

“The legislative page program,” said Rep. Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor), who sponsored Mia Carlton, now a junior, “is a great opportunity for students to learn about the legislative process and gain valuable experience helping with the operation of the legislature.”

Hiller, a senior who will major in political science in college, was sponsored by former Sen. Barbara Bailey, (R-Oak Harbor).

“I had heard about the program,” Hiller told the Weekly News, “and thought it would be a fun thing to do. It turned about to be amazing.”

Due to COVID-19, however, the state Senate page program in which Hiller participated has been suspended for the 2021 legislative session.

Applications to serve as a 2022 Senate page will open Nov. 1, 2021. So will the House page program.

Hiller, whose ultimate aim is to attend law school, said page duties ideally complemented his chosen academic fields.

“Political science, history and law all go hand-in-hand together,” Hiller said.

For the Carltons, serving as pages is a family tradition.

“My brother, Keith, did it years earlier,” said James, a senior who plans to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps following graduation. “I was a page my freshman year and I don’t think I received academic credit for it, but I can use it for job applications and my senior presentation.”

The Carltons, like Hiller, highly recommend serving as legislative pages.

“Yes, it was fun, and you get paid for it,” said James.

Pages stay with host families while in Olympia and receive $35 daily for their efforts.

“We all clicked really well,” Hiller said. “They were great, always supportive.”

“I was fortunate,” added James, who paged in the State House for retiring GOP lawmaker Norma Smith, of Clinton, “to be able to stay with a family that lived and worked near the capital.”

Hiller said his week in Olympia breezed by.

“Everything was spelled out,” he said. “It was all very structured.”

His days started at 7 a.m. sharp. There was time spent working on projects, manning an assignment booth, attending page school – where he and other students were tutored in the finer points of government – and doing a lot of running.

“You always had to be ready to run documents across campus,” said Hiller. “We covered a lot of ground that week.”

La Conner Middle and High School Counselor Lori Buher said Hiller and the Carltons were ideal candidates to serve as legislative pages.

“These students,” she stressed, “value honesty, integrity and hard work. “It’s reassuring to know that they’re interested in government and how it works.