ZINNER SELECTED U.S. SENATE PAGE

A church youth trip to Washington, D.C. helped lead Jenifer Zinner to apply for a United States Senate page position.

"We got to sit in on the Senate while we were there," Zinner said. "I looked down into the chamber and saw a bunch of people who looked like high school students. I asked who they were and found out they were pages."

This summer visitors to the Senate chamber will look down and see Zinner. The Jackson High School junior has been selected as a Senate page for the 106th Congress. She will work for U.S. Senator Kit bond for six weeks this summer.

The decision to apply for a page position was cemented when Zinner read in the Southeast Missourian that former Congressman Bill Emerson had gotten his start as a page.

"I'm very, very excited," said Zinnner, who reports to the nation's capitol June 14 or the six-week session.

"It is a pleasure for me to select an outstanding young person like Jenifer Zinner to represent Missouri this summer as a Senate page," Bond said. "Her scholastic achievements and leadership activities make her an excellent selection for senate page."

"We're really proud of her," said Rick McClard, JHS principal. "It was a pretty lengthy interviewing process and quite a few students from the area were seeking the honor. She's been very active in service activities and other extracurricular activities and has wonderful character. She really deserves it. She's also a very solid student."

Zinner, recently elected Student Council and student body president for the 1999-2000 school year, plays high school soccer and is active in Drama Club, Honors Band, speech and debate and National Honor Society, as well as serving as president of Welcome Team at her youth group at Cape Bible Chapel and working as a Habitat for Humanity volunteer.

"I've received a huge booklet of rules already," she said. "There are a lot of things we can't do--but it will still be fun and great experience."

Zinner intends to eventually get a law degree. She credits her parents, Chuck and Julie Zinner, with much of her recent success.

"My parents are big supporters in all these things," she said. "I couldn't have done half the things I've done without them. They taught me well and I feel like I know what my beliefs are."

For over 150 years, messengers known as pages have served the United States Congress. Currently, about 100 young men and women from across the nation serve as pages at any given time. Pages must be high school juniors and at least 16 years of age. Seven incumbent and former members of Congress including the late Bill Emerson, have been congressional pages.

Senator Daniel Webster appointed the first page in 1829. The first House pages began their service in 1842. In the 106th Congress there are 30 Senate pages, supervised by the Senate Sergeant of Arms .