A Washington High School student, Caitlyn Elizabeth Dority, recently served as a page in the North Carolina Senate — a 200-year or more tradition.

Dority was one of hundreds of high school students to serve when the General Assembly is in session.

Dority said Sen. Bill Cook, who she became acquainted with when he was running for office in 2010, sponsored her. Cook suggested she submit an application because of her outstanding GPA of 4.2. Dority submitted an application and was accepted to serve for the session. Dority said Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger of Rockingham County appointed her and she served the week of May 19.

“I had a chance to see the legislature in session and attend committee meetings to see how things work behind the scenes,” Dority said. “I am very proud and honored to have been able to serve at a time where there is so much change going on in North Carolina.”

NC Senate Page Coordinator Michael Purdue said the Senate page Program is a very old program in which high school students from across the state come to Raleigh for a week to serve as pages. Purdue, who remembered working with Dority, said she did a fine job as a page and served the first week of the session.

“Caitlyn is a fine young person,” Purdue said. “She has a good high school record and she was just a delight to have as a page. She’s a well-rounded young lady and I hope she can come back and work for us.”

Purdue said the students who serve as pages are responsible for helping senators and the lieutenant governor with office work and running errands as well as attending committee meetings. The pages also deal with a great amount of paper work while serving.

“Most of my work was administrative,” Dority said. “I mainly filed papers and carried messages back and forth between offices. Being there helped me realize how complicated the entire process is. Another interesting thing I saw was the Moral Monday protest.

“That helped me see how the legislature is truly a place of democracy because everyone is entitled to their opinion there. I think one of the biggest things I learned was how much change is happening so quickly in North Carolina now, and I was happy to be a small part of it.”

Both chambers of North Carolina government — the House and Senate — have pages that serve as well as in the governor’s office, Purdue said. These branches only have pages, however, when the General Assembly is in session. Purdue said the pages serving in the NC Senate has been going on since the early 1800s, if not earlier.