Avery Hughes Davis, a sophomore at iTech Preparatory, served as a Senate page during the week of April 17 to April 21 at the state Capitol in Olympia.
Hughes Davis was sponsored by Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, who represents the 20th Legislative District. He was among 23 students who served as Senate pages during the last week of the 2023 legislative session.
“I am really interested in politics and pursuing a career in politics so I thought being a page would be a great opportunity,” Hughes Davis stated in a news release.
The Senate Page Program allows Washington students between the ages of 14 to 16 to spend one week working in the Legislature. During their time at the Capitol, pages transport documents between offices, deliver mail and messages, and staff the Senate floor when debates take place. A special page school offers instruction in parliamentary procedure and pages engage in a mock legislative session, stated the release.
Hughes Davis is involved in his school’s Associated Student Body and is also a member of the National Honors Society.
During his time as a page, he got the opportunity to be on the Senate floor and see firsthand the debates and voting that took place there.
“I was surprised to learn about the amount of work that goes into creating each bill, from the committee hearings and then sending it to the House,” Hughes Davis stated in the release.
Hughes Davis also got the opportunity to work on a mock bill that would fund four new vocational schools within Washington state. The new schools would provide more education about trades and give more opportunities to younger generations.
“It was a great week having Avery as my page,” Braun stated in the release. “He is a very bright young man, and I can tell he is very passionate about learning more about politics and our state government.”
After high school, Hughes Davis hopes to attend a four-year college and is looking at the University of California-Irvine. He hopes to study business and political science.
Hughes Davis, 17, is the son of Angela Hughes and Ryan Davis, of La Center.
