Teen page rubbing elbows at Queen’s Park
Sitting at the head of her dining room table surrounded by cutout pictures of members of the legislative assembly of Ontario, seventh-grade St. Catharines native Madeleine Alexander studies by connecting every face to a name.
Madeleine has been selected to serve as a legislative page at Queens Park in Toronto. Her five-week term started Monday.
Last week she has turned her dining room into a model of the legislative chamber to help her memorize every MPPs name and where they sit.
“I kind of get a feel for how it would look in the actual room,” she said then. “Now when I think of a name, I visualize where they sit in the chamber.”
Madeleine’s typical day now starts at 8 a.m. dressed in uniform at Queen’s Park to begin preparation for morning debates. The rest of her day will involve relaying messages on the floor of the legislative chamber, meeting various government figures, and receiving lessons in civics and mathematics.
Inspired by her older brother William, who served as page in 2012, the 13-year-old decided to apply for the program.
Madeleine was able to observe her brother during his term. While there she met the Speaker David Levac, who gave her the mace pin included in her model legislature after she expressed she wanted to apply to the program herself in the future.
“I want to get a feel of how the parliamentsystemworks,andifit’ssomething that interests me,” she said. “I want to see whether it’s something I may want to study in university or be a potential career in the future.”
To apply, Madeleine submitted an essay describing her qualities that made her an ideal candidate, pulling examples from her extracurricular activities. The Dalewood Public School student is involved in various team sports such as hockey and soccer, plays violin in the Niagara Youth Orchestra and volunteers on weekends at Fort George.
“(My extracurriculars) all call for leadership skills, collaboration,” she said — which the program cites as some of the qualities it looks for in candidates.
The page program also requires seventh- and eighth-grade students who apply have a minimum academic average of 80 per cent, show an interest in current affairs and be able to get along with their peers and their elders.
“She is incredibly well-rounded,” said the co-ordinator of the legislative page program, Rachel Colley, who is happy to have an applicant from Niagara.
“Most of our applicants are from the Greater Toronto Area, so it’s nice to get an application from outside of that.”
Said her mother Carolyn Brendon, “We’re thrilled for her.”
Looking back at her son’s experience with the program, she said it has a lot to offer selected students.
“It gives them a lot of confidence. They come back much more mature.”
Madeleine and her family will be staying in Toronto for her term, but returning home on weekends.
“I’m really excited to be a part of this,” she said.