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Paging, Haley Ledford

St. Edmond grad works inside the Iowa State Capitol building

-Submitted photo
Haley Ledford, a St. Edmond graduate and current Drake University student, will begin her third legislative session working inside the Iowa State Capitol. Ledford will be part of state Sen. Dan Dawson’s staff in January.

Haley Ledford can recall the day she knew the Page Program at the Iowa State Capitol was in her future.

Ledford, a St. Edmond graduate and current student at Drake University, will be starting her third legislative session in January with State Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs.

“One of my aunts, Sandy, told me about the Page Program when I was in eighth grade,” Ledford said. “Then, I went to the State Capitol for a 4-H field trip and saw the pages doing their job and thought it seemed fun, so I kept it in the back of my mind throughout high school. My guidance counselors were always very helpful with my schedule, fitting advanced classes in so that I could have wiggle room to take a semester off if I were accepted into the program my junior or senior year. Thankfully, it worked out and I was able to page.

“My parents, friends, tennis coach, Fort Dodge’s state Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink and 4-H leaders were all very supportive of me taking on paging and I’m still so grateful for it. It may seem dramatic, but applying to the Page Program was easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

“It’s opened the door to so many opportunities, such as interning in the governor’s office and clerking. I’ve met so many amazing Iowans, grown as a person, found my passions and learned things about politics that can’t be taught beyond the classroom.”

-Submitted photo
St. Edmond graduate Haley Ledford stands inside the Iowa State Capitol building. Ledford, a student at Drake University, has worked in the building since 2018.

Ledford began in the spring of 2018 and found herself feeling right at home. In the fall of that year, she served as a communications intern in the office of Gov. Kim Reynolds and spent last spring with Dawson as a clerk.

“As a page, I ran errands and performed random tasks for state representatives or senators and their staff, along with running the chamber’s cameras during debates,” she said. “Clerking is a bit different from paging as essentially you’re a personal secretary for a state senator. A typical day clerking includes scheduling meetings, organizing and responding to emails or letters, and doing odds and ends of random tasks/projects.”

Ledford is currently studying International Business and Pre-Law at Drake University. She has just over a year left of undergraduate studies before attending Drake Law School.

The challenge of balancing her work at the Capitol with classes can be difficult, but Ledford said Dawson is “really flexible and fun to work for, so it makes it worth the constant back-and-forth from the State Capitol to campus.”

Ledford said she has been “blessed” to have her position and that the number of incredible memories are “countless,” though a few stand out.

-Submitted photo
Haley Ledford, a St. Edmond grad, will be part of state Sen. Dan Dawson’s staff this January as she begins her third session working at the Iowa State Capitol.

“Some of my favorite memories when I was a page was sitting in the well (the front of the chamber with the Secretary of the Senate and President of the Senate) and getting to witness debate and the power of democracy right in front of my eyes,” she said. “Also, at end of the legislative session, pages get the opportunity to decorate the senators’ ‘going home’ boxes that they fill with any paperwork and materials they’re taking home with them during the interim (time between sessions).

“After decorating, it’s been a tradition to stack the boxes to see how high our page class could stack them. I could be wrong, but we were able to stack 19 or 20 boxes before it fell down — which is definitely a record.”

She also met Iowa astronaut Peggy Whitson, a moment that left her “starstruck.” Whitson spent 665 days in space and was the first female commander of the International Space Station with Expedition 16.

Ledford’s ultimate goal is to become either a lawyer or policy advisor specializing in agricultural law.

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