By Alamar Alyamani

Maury has a ton of interesting and talented students with their own experiences, and Sahirah Askew is one of them.

Askew has done something a lot of high schoolers can’t by serving as a Page with the House of Delegates.

Askew is a freshman at Maury who wanted to get ahead with her experience at the House of Delegates because “it was an amazing opportunity”.

Her supervisor, Page Program Coordinator Kathryn Pond, praised Askew’s performance.

“Sahirah was able to not only work as a House Page but also keep up with her schoolwork with dedication and persistence,” said Pond. “I had the pleasure of personally getting to see Sahirah breakout of her shell and blossom into a professional young adult.“

I sat today with Askew to ask about her experiences in the program and she gave some advice to people who would like to do it.

The following has been edited for clarity:

AA: “What do you do as a Page in the House of Delegates?”

SA: “You help delegates with anything they might need. It’s like running errands and doing jobs and one that I did was help with the copatrons and made sure everything was where it needed to be.”

AA: “Would you ever do it again?”

SA: “Yes, I would do it again. There is actually an opportunity for me to come back and I’m thinking about taking it. I made a lot of friends and connections there.”

AA: “Who would you recommend this program to?”

SA: “I would recommend this program to 8th and 9th graders. Just so you can overall have a working experience and making new connections with delegates. And 8th to 9th graders are mature enough and would flourish in that type of environment.”

AA: “What was your favorite memory?” 

SA: “It was when we went to an African-American Museum (The National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.-Ed). It was very exciting and I got to spend time with my friends while seeing beautiful works of art.”

AA: “Can you give me some pros and cons of serving as a House Page?”

SA: “Some pros are the connections, friends, and work experience I have gained. Some cons were balancing school work. I felt like sometimes I needed extra help that I wasn’t getting and being virtual instead of in person wasn’t helping. I also got homesick and missed a lot of people.”

AA: “Any advice for people thinking about doing the same thing?”

SA: “Just have a great outlook on it and put your 100 percent in. What you put in is what you get back so just try your hardest.”