Layne Donovan: from Wauwatosa to Washington D.C.

From the 1830’s, when the Senate appointed its first page, to 1971, when they finally accepted females into the program, being a Senate page has always been a reputable position. A Senate page has the opportunity to serve a Senator and work in the Capitol. Fast forward to the fall semester of 2017, when Layne Donovan, a junior at Wauwatosa East High School, started on the same path that many women before her paved and journeyed themselves. Getting to this point, however, was not easy. The multi stepped process is rigorous and lengthy. Donovan first had to contact Wisconsin’s Democratic senator, Tammy Baldwin, then fill out an application, partake in a phone interview with Baldwin’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff and finally getting accepted.

Once in Washington D.C., work started right away and life moved to the fast lane. Donovan says, “Every morning of the week our alarms went off at 5:00 am. At this time, I would put on my navy blue pants suit and white shirt. We were responsible for looking respectable every day. We had to have our hair off of our faces and our uniforms had to be neat.” After the early rise, all 27 pages would head off to the United States Senate Page School, where, with only five to six students in a class, Layne “really enjoyed [the] closer learning environment.” She said she got a lot of one-on-one attention from her teachers, which helped a lot in her studies. Academically, the intensity level stayed at an all time high throughout the semester, but Layne used her time management skills to keep it all under control. Donovan quoted, “The school was rigorous. It is definitely the hardest academic thing I've done so far. Classes were usually about 30 minutes but that depended on when the Senate went into session in the morning.” She also said that they usually got quite a bit of homework. “We only had about three hours at work to do homework so it was important to use everyone as much as possible. Then we [were] responsible for finishing the rest once we got home.” Clearly, these profound standards were not going to get in the way of Layne doing her job.

Taking the four block walk to the Hart Office Building in the Capitol, the pages made their way to their supervised and designated cloakrooms (one for republicans and one for democrats) to sign in. A typical day would include setting up the chamber, putting out daily calendars and passing out the legislation that was introduced the night before. Once the Senate was in session, each party was split into two groups that took shifts every other hour. Layne was on democratic shift B, which rotated with democratic shift A. Donovan explained that, “At 6:00 pm whichever shift was working the early shift that day would pack up and go back to the dorm. The shift that was working late that night would stay until the Senate adjourned for the night.” Sometimes the late shift would go until “6:30 pm, [but] other times it would go all night! We switched which shift we worked every other day.”

Even though this program called for such high demands, it was worth it because of the doors it opened for Layne’s future and, more importantly, she was able to grow as a person. Being a page taught her how to work harder than she ever has before and how to maintain a high level of patience and respect for her superiors. Finally, the bravest thing of all was that Layne, “learned the importance of taking a chance. The application I sent in took me months to complete. There were moments throughout the process when I wanted to stop.” Even though she had worries that she wouldn’t get in, Layne said that, “I did get in, and the benefits that I have gained as a result made the application process, the stress I felt while I waited and the nerves I felt leaving home more than worth it.” She also had many valuable moments on her journey, as she says, “I met people from all around the country, I observed some of the most intelligent minds in [political] debate[s] on the Senate Floor and I learned some of the most important lessons of my life. All because I put myself out there and took a chance.” Layne says that she will carry that specific lesson for the rest of her life, especially when she goes “on to apply for college and prepare to leave [her] home. The best experience[s] will not be easy, but in the end, they will be more than worth it.”