Grey County student Bella-Sitara Singh Soares says she will never forget the friendships she made while serving in the Legislative Page Program at Queen’s Park.
Singh Soares, now a Grade 9 student from Southgate Township, served as a page during the most recent legislative session at Queen’s Park.
She was a guest of Grey County council at its meeting on Sept. 12 and spoke about her experiences in the page program.
She said she was very honoured to be selected for the program and said each year, across Ontario, 150 students apply for the page program and just a few are selected.
While in the program, she was elected one of two valedictorians of her group by her peers and achieved the highest test score of her group.
“I forged lifelong friendships with my peers from across the province,” Singh Soares told county council.
As a page, Singh Soares had a front-row seat to see the Ontario Legislature in action. She had the opportunity to meet Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ontario Lieutenant Governor Edith Dumont, along with many MPPs and cabinet ministers.
“Question period was very dramatic and also very interesting,” she said.
Her days as a page would begin at 4 a.m. when she would rise and make the trek to the legislature.
The daily briefing for the page corps was held at 8 a.m. each morning and the students serving as pages spent the day on their feet delivering messages and documents to MPPs and staff serving at Queen’s Park.
She said many days pages would walk more than seven kilometres as they performed their duties.
“I learned the importance of civic engagement and participating in democratic processes,” she said.
Singh Soares said in the future she plans to pursue a career in public service and law.
“I’m motivated to make a positive impact through public service,” she said.
