Junior Hannah Thompson is spending the semester in Washington D.C. as a Congressional Page in the office of Congressman Chet Edwards. Pages are appointed and sponsored by a member of Congress for one academic semester of the school year, or a summer session. Academic standing is among the most important criteria used in the final selection of pages.

For more than 150 years, messengers known as pages have served the United States Congress. Currently, approximately 100 young men and women from across the nation serve as pages at any given time. Pages must be high school juniors and at least 16 years of age. Several incumbent and former Members of Congress as well as other prominent Americans have served as congressional pages. Senator Daniel Webster appointed the first Senate page in 1829. The first House pages began their service in 1842. The first women were appointed as pages in 1971.