Collinsville Student Shares Her Experience After Spending Week At State Capitol

A junior from Collinsville High School is sharing her experience after spending a week paging at the state capitol.

As president of the Collinsville High School robotics club, it's not surprising that Maci Stephens wants to be a mechanical engineer someday, so spending a week at the capitol in the world of politics was a new experience.

"I'm a high schooler and I've been in a government class, but I knew that they had to pass bills in the house and in the Senate, but I didn't know what it actually entailed," says Stephens.

Before paging for Representative John Kane, Maci says she thought politicians were a level above everyone else, but realized they're regular Oklahomans.

"At the House of Representatives, half the were people farmers, we met an optometrist when we were there. We met people from every different profession that all were just passionate about making a difference," Stephens says.

Maci says one thing she learned at the capitol is that politics don't have to be so divided.

"At the end of the day, they all walk out of the room together, they're all laughing together, they're all friends, it is nothing like Republican and Democrat, we do not align, they're all friends at the end of the day and that's and that was another thing that was really impressive to me," she says.

Maci says one of the best parts was meeting other pages from across Oklahoma.

"Honestly the most memorable part of the whole thing was the people that I got to meet there. They are all of the most dedicated, most hardworking students in Oklahoma that really want to make a difference in their community is just the common theme between everyone," says Stephens.

She says the whole experience gives her inspiration to one day consider a life in politics.