Former Notre Dame student serves as Missouri’s page at RNC

Elise Edwards in front of the stage at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Courtesy of Elise Edwards

Notre Dame Regional High School graduate and current Mississippi State University student Elise Edwards, 20, received the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as a page at the recent 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Edwards, who is working part time as a district field representative for U.S. Rep. Jason Smith’s office for the summer, was selected following a lengthy application process that required her to submit her resume and a detailed essay on why she wanted to represent the state at the RNC. After being chosen as a finalist, Edwards participated in a phone interview that lasted approximately 1 1/2 hours before being selected.

“Even though there were so many finalists, I was chosen to be the official RNC Missouri page,” Edwards said.

During the convention, it was Edwards and the other pages’ responsibility to distribute credentials to each delegate as well as distribute signs on the floor.

“We did a lot of running around,” Edwards said. “Since I was in operations, I had full access to the floor and certain backstage areas. We did about 10-minute interval sign distribution to all the locations that were there, so that was a lot of running around on the floor.”

Edwards continually used the word “surreal” to describe her experience at the RNC. Throughout the four-day convention, Edwards said she met several politicians who became “humanized” to her through their interactions. She said she had the opportunity to talk briefly with both Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump while she was there.

“Mike Johnson, he did a private audience with all the pages and he shook our hands,” Edwards said. “We had special hats we got to wear when we were on the floor so the people and the media knew that we had to get through. He signed all of our hats and he just told us what an amazing time it was to be here and how we are the future of this country, and we really are. That was really inspiring to hear. He used the words that our country was ‘going through a political Renaissance’, and I just thought that was a really good way to put it.

“President Trump, he’s a very busy man who had just come off the stage from his final speech. He was joking around with all of us, telling us how he really appreciates us all being there, that it’s not a one-man show, how he couldn’t do anything he does without the work of all of us and how amazing the convention went. Then, he signed our hats as well.”

Trump’s speech at the RNC was his first after an attempt was made on his life during a rally July 13 in Pennsylvania. Edwards said listening to the former president speak “did not feel real.”

“He said that this was the first and last time he was ever going to talk about it and to be just 10 feet away watching him say that while the whole world was watching, it didn’t feel real,” Edwards said. “It was so quiet. You could literally hear a pin drop, no one was moving, breathing or anything. I felt like I was really there to witness history firsthand.”

One of the biggest takeaways from the event for Edwards was her opportunity to meet other like-minded young people and develop friendships.

“Getting to meet young people who think the same as you, are inspired and want to make the country a better place (was what I enjoyed most) because sometimes people don’t always have the same thoughts and passions as me, so that was really great.”