United States Senate Page - Residence and Free Time

Residence and Free Time

US Senate Pages currently reside at the Daniel Webster Senate Page Residence. This facility was previously a funeral home and was reconfigured in order to provide Pages with a home away from home during their time in Washington. Administration and staff include the Page Program Director, Administrative Assistant, four resident Proctors, and one non-resident Proctor.

The living quarters cover two floors, one for male Pages, the other for female Pages. Each floor has a day room for social activity. All Pages share furnished rooms with other Pages and each room is designed for four or six occupants. Each room has closet space, a bathroom, and a single telephone. The Senate Page School, laundry facilities and a kitchen are located on the basement level.

The program provides the pages with two meals per day, seven days per week. Breakfast is provided at the residence. Lunch is provided on weekdays through a meal card at the Senate Cafeterias. On Saturdays, lunch or dinner is usually provided through a voucher for a meal at Union Station, or if the Pages are on a field trip, lunch or dinner will be provided on the trip. On Sundays, the program provides dinner at the residence, or goes out to a restaurant.

The United States Capitol Police maintains a 24-hour post at Webster Hall as well as outside foot and car patrols. Their responsibility is to provide security for the facility and its occupants and to monitor access to the building. Webster Hall is monitored by a security alarm system.

When not at school or at work, Pages are given much liberty with their free time. Pages are subject to a curfew (generally 9:00 p.m. on school nights and 10:00 p.m. during the weekend) and are expected to maintain high standards. While Pages are not permitted to bring personal vehicles with them to the District of Columbia, they are encouraged to use the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

On occasional weekends, free from school or work obligations, Pages spend their time working on school assignments, touring the many attractions in the DC area or simply relaxing from a long week's work. For holidays, Pages return home for Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks; the residence is closed during these periods.

The Senate Sergeant at Arms is responsible for Webster Hall.

Before the move to Webster Hall, both the House and Senate Pages shared a living space in the former House Office Building Annex #1 (which has since been torn down).

Read more about this topic:  United States Senate Page

Famous quotes containing the words residence, free and/or time:

    If you would feel the full force of a tempest, take up your residence on the top of Mount Washington, or at the Highland Light, in Truro.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    My job as a reservationist was very routine, computerized ... I had no free will. I was just part of that stupid computer.
    Beryl Simpson, U.S. employment counselor; former airline reservationist. As quoted in Working, book 2, by Studs Terkel (1973)

    My time has come.
    There are twenty people in my belly,
    there is a magnitude of wings,
    there are forty eyes shooting like arrows,
    and they will all be born.
    All be born in the yellow wind.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)