Clemens High School junior Brook Merritt is preparing to trade her classroom in Texas for the U.S. Capitol after she was selected for the competitive U.S. Senate Page Program in Washington, D.C.
Merritt is one of 30 high school students chosen to serve as Senate pages, a program that gives 11th grade students a firsthand look at the legislative process while continuing their studies in the nation’s capital.
Her interest in the program started in an unexpected place: TikTok.
“I was watching a video on TikTok of somebody watching C-Span, and they saw high schoolers sitting on the Senate floor,” Merritt said. “They asked, ‘What are these high school students doing on (the) Senate floor?’”
That led Merritt to research the Senate Page Program, which requires students to be sponsored by a U.S. senator. She applied and reached out to the offices of both Texas senators: John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
“I didn’t actually think that I would get in,” Merritt said.
After interviews and follow-up conversations, Merritt earned a sponsorship.
“I ended up getting sponsored by Sen. (Ted) Cruz, even though I was told that there was no possibility of that happening originally,” she said.
Merritt’s mother, Debbie Cura, said she was hesitant at first about her daughter living in Washington, D.C. for an entire semester.
“She was, like, 13, I think, when she asked,” Cura said. “And I said, ‘Brook, I’m not ready for you to leave.’”
When the acceptance notice came, Cura said the family knew it was an opportunity Merritt could not pass up.
“If God opened the door, we gotta let her go through it,” Cura said.
Merritt’s résumé includes advanced placement (AP) and honors classes, cheerleading, pole vaulting and student leadership roles at Clemens.
As part of the program, she will leave Clemens and enroll in the Senate Page School in Washington, D.C.
Pages follow a demanding schedule. School arrives early in the morning before reporting to work in the Senate.
“She’ll go to school from 6 to 9 in the morning, wake up at 4 a.m. and then go straight to work all day for five-and-a-half months,” Cura said. “Some of her friends tell her, ‘That sounds boring,’ but she’s super excited.”
The program also comes with strict rules, including limited access to cellphones and the internet.
For Merritt, who hopes to someday become a lawyer, the experience is directly tied to her future goals.
“I’m really, really, really excited to be able to actually be on the Senate floor where debates over legislation is happening and be in such an intimate part of that experience in the law,” Merritt said.
Merritt also hopes to attend nearby Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and believes the Senate Page Program could help prepare her for that path.
After completing the program, she is expected to return to Clemens in January.
