Tea Area senior makes history as first Titan selected for U.S. Senate Page Program

For Tea Area High School senior Jaxon Johanneson, a month spent living and working in Washington, D.C., provided an opportunity few high school students ever experience.

Johanneson recently completed a session as a U.S. Senate Page, working in the nation’s Capitol under the sponsorship of South Dakota Sen. John Thune. He is the first student from Tea Area High School to be selected for the U.S. Senate Page Program.

The highly competitive program give high school students the opportunity to experience the workings of the Senate firsthand while living with students from across the country. Senate pages assist with the daily operation of the Senate, including delivering correspondence and legislative materials, preparing the Senate Chamber for sessions and assisting on the Senate floor during votes and debates.

For Johanneson, the opportunity was a natural fit.

“I wanted to apply for the program as I have always been interested in government, political science, and current events,” Johanneson said. “I served as a Page for the SD Senate and loved it, so I figured it would be even more exciting to see things happen on the federal level.”

Johanneson applied at the beginning of April, although he wasn’t expecting to be selected.

“Honestly, I thought it was a long shot but wanted to try anyway,” he said.

There are only 30 Senate Page positions available for each session, making the program highly competitive. Pages must be sponsored by a senator.

Johanneson learned he had been accepted in an unexpected way.

“I found out that I was selected when my mom showed up to musical practice for The Wizard of Oz to tell me!” he said. “I was super shocked, and all my friends were excited and happy for me. It was a surreal experience.”

Johanneson’s days in Washington were busy and often long.

He typically woke around 7 a.m. and headed to work by 9 a.m. The trip to the Capitol included a ride on the Senate train, where he said pages could regularly encounter senators and other government officials.

Work continued according to the Senate’s schedule.

“We put in multiple 10-12 hour days,” Johanneson said. “If the Senate adjourned early though we got to go back to the residence and explore the city.”

One of Johanneson’s favorite parts of the experience was something as simple as walking into the Senate Chamber each morning.

“The most memorable moment of the program was getting to walk into the Senate chamber every morning,” he said. “It is an honor that most Americans will never understand and even one most Capitol employees never get to experience.”

As a page, Johanneson was able to see the Senate’s work from a perspective that most people only experience through television or news reports.

Having Thune as his sponsor made the experience particularly meaningful.

Thune, who is the senior senator from South Dakota and Senate majority leader, was often busy with his responsibilities, but Johanneson said the senator still made an effort to acknowledge him.

“It was a really special thing that Senator Thune was my sponsor,” Johanneson said. “As majority leader he is kinda a big deal in the Capitol so we didn’t get to talk much, but he always made it a priority to give me a fist bump as he walked into the chamber. Getting even a little time out of his day is so special.”

Perhaps one of Johanneson’s biggest takeaways was discovering that the people he saw working in the Senate were not so different from everyone else.

“The thing I learned most about the experience is that the senators in the U.S. Senate are real people,” he said. “I know that sounds crazy but sometimes I think we forget that they are people like us. They say hi, thank you, good morning all the things every other person around does, and even though they can very publicly disagree they still have a lot of respect for one another.”

The experience also changed his understanding of how the Senate actually operates.

“What surprised me most about the experience is how much government has changed since our founding and how it actually works vs. all we learn in school,” Johanneson said. 

“I thought that senators walked into the chamber every day and debated these issues,” he said. “But in reality, the only reason senators come to the chamber is for votes and to give speeches to the American people, not their colleagues,” Johanneson continued. 

Johanneson returned to Tea with a month of firsthand experience in the nation’s capital and a better understanding of the federal government.

A senior at Tea Area High School, Johanneson is involved in numerous school activities. He is a varsity member of the cross country team and serves as senior class president and student council president, which also gives him a seat on the school board. He is also a member of the National Honor Society, Speech & Debate team, French Club, Educators Rising, TATU, Principal’s Cabinet, and has performed in the One Act Plays and the school musical.  

His time as a U.S. Senate Page adds another unique experience to that list — and establishes a first for Tea Area High School.

The Senate Page Program has been operating for nearly two centuries, with young people serving the Senate in various capacities since the early 1800s. Today’s pages are sponsored by senators and work within the Capitol complex while gaining firsthand experience with the legislative process.

For Johanneson, the experience offered something that cannot be replicated in a classroom: the chance to see the federal government at work from inside the Senate Chamber. And for Tea Area, it marked the first time one of its students had taken on the role of a U.S. Senate Page.