The NAACP chapter for Houston county took six high school students to the Georgia Capitol building to work as pages for the day on Wednesday, March 18.
Since its founding in 1909, the NAACP has been one of the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organizations. Its founding members, including civil rights icons Ida B. Wells and W. E. B. Dubois, set the organization’s mission to promote civil rights and combat racial discrimination in all forms.
Chapter President Jonathan Johnson is in his sixth year leading Houston county’s chapter, and last week’s trip was his second year traveling to Atlanta for the day. The event, which was attended by students from across the state, is geared towards introducing students interested in politics to the lawmaking process.
Pages have an array of duties that involve preparing the House floor, delivering messages to congressional members and committees, and providing administrative support like answering phone calls and taking notes.
The Middle Georgia-area students who attended were Jayla and Justice Cormier, Craig Lattimore, Jr., Meyah Whitmore and Sara Dieye of Houston County High School and Mount de Sales Academy student MaKayla Williams. Their shared interest in pursuing politics after high school was the catalyst for their trip to the capital.
“This event is for students to be House and Senate members for the day and to see how bills are proposed and voted on,” Johnson said while watching the students work on the floor alongside elected officials. In addition to leading Houston county’s NAACP chapter, Johnson also handles NAACP work in neighboring Peach county.
The event first started in 1969 as an internship program, where students from all over Georgia worked alongside state lawmakers to provide them assistance in the General Assembly. The internship gave students hands-on experience in politics in addition to academic credit for school that day as they were introduced to legislating first-hand.
“The process of a pager was that you had to deliver documents to the representatives and when they had a message, you would go to the message desk and you would put the message on the correct representative’s desk,” Williams, the Mount De Sales student, said of the work she did.
Williams added she enjoyed the event because she plans to major in political science after high school.
The General Assembly was open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and later the students took a picture with the 75th Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, Jon Burns. The students also held the gavel, and took pictures throughout the building while they were given a tour.
The students witnessed bills being proposed that dealt with issues that ranged from car fraud to school bullying.
Schools and colleges from all over the state participated in this event. Johnson said he is looking forward to continuing this field trip for future students who, he said, want to make a difference in diversifying politics.
Nevaeh Wilson '28 is majoring in Journalism and minoring in Film Studies. She has been writing for The Cluster since her freshman year, and has worked for Mercer's ESPN studio. She enjoys watching college and professional sporting events.
