Homeschooler Serves as Page in State Legislature

In the midst of a crazy political year, a homeschooler from northwest Iowa has been busy gaining lots of hands-on experience in the political world.

Zara Trigg, a 17-year-old from rural Hawarden, Iowa, served as a page in the Iowa House of Representatives for five months at the state capitol in Des Moines. She also spent time this year campaigning for a candidate in Georgia.

According to the N’West Iowa REVIEW, Trigg and her parents decided to homeschool, so she could learn at her own pace and have a more flexible schedule that would allow her to follow her passion for politics.

“I started studying education and I realized how much of a political thing it is; it’s not just a school thing, it’s the politics of it and the government is so involved in it,” Trigg said. “That was the first field that I started to get interested in, and I realized how much politics and government have a say in our life, and you can’t just ignore it because it affects all our lives whether we want it to or not.”

As a page, her most consistent duties involved sitting in on staff meetings and running errands for representatives. While that may not sound very glamorous, she said she had a great experience that allowed her to meet a variety of people and taught her important lessons about holding on to her values, being respectful, and working with others.

“It wasn’t about the job really; it was about the experience,” Trigg said. “There’s just a lot of connections that I made, like friendships that will last forever because we got so close, but then also connections that will help me get future jobs and other things.”