Page Krugman ’02
Written April 2013
As a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Jim Cooper, Page Krugman ’02 is responsible for advising the congressman on matters of telecommunications and technology, science, and in particular, NASA. She attends briefing, hearings, and meetings on those issues, especially with regard to public policy. When constituents come up to Washington to discuss concerns on those topics, she meets with them, sometimes with the congressman and sometimes as his representative. Ultimately, when related pieces of legislation come up for a vote, Page makes a recommendation on how she thinks the congressman should vote “based on his previous record and what he values and believes in.”
It’s often a fast-paced and challenging job. “Sometimes there’s a lot of stuff coming at you all at once and it’s hard to process the sheer volume,” says Page. Fairly frequently, she goes through intense periods where she is working long hours for days and weeks at a stretch. She declares, “Despite what people think, everyone up here does work very hard all the time.”
Political engagement was just part of growing up in the Krugman family. (As ninth-grader she volunteered to stuff envelopes for Cooper’s first campaign!) Apart from the family ethos, she believes Harding influenced her desire to be an engaged citizen. She says, “There was such an emphasis on your being part of your community, which I think was really special.”
Page went on to the University School of Nashville, where she was involved in model youth legislature types of activities. She then majored in political science at Duke, interning on Capitol Hill the summer between her junior and senior years.
She started working for Congressman Cooper in May of 2010, right after graduation, and then found herself working alongside Kathleen Ambrose ‘02, a Harding hook-up buddy, who is a staff assistant.
Page says, “One of my favorite parts of the job is learning about and witnessing the amazing variety of things that people care about and that the government is doing and trying to do.” She also finds it gratifying “to work for someone who truly cares enough to compromise, and really wants to solve our country’s fiscal crisis, and really wants to help his constituents.”
Grad school may be an option, but Page is not considering becoming a politician herself. “I have no ambition to run for elected office,” she says. “I like public service, so I’d like to stick with that for awhile and then see how I can help people in the future.”
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It’s often a fast-paced and challenging job. “Sometimes there’s a lot of stuff coming at you all at once and it’s hard to process the sheer volume,” says Page. Fairly frequently, she goes through intense periods where she is working long hours for days and weeks at a stretch. She declares, “Despite what people think, everyone up here does work very hard all the time.”
Political engagement was just part of growing up in the Krugman family. (As ninth-grader she volunteered to stuff envelopes for Cooper’s first campaign!) Apart from the family ethos, she believes Harding influenced her desire to be an engaged citizen. She says, “There was such an emphasis on your being part of your community, which I think was really special.”
Page went on to the University School of Nashville, where she was involved in model youth legislature types of activities. She then majored in political science at Duke, interning on Capitol Hill the summer between her junior and senior years.
She started working for Congressman Cooper in May of 2010, right after graduation, and then found herself working alongside Kathleen Ambrose ‘02, a Harding hook-up buddy, who is a staff assistant.
Page says, “One of my favorite parts of the job is learning about and witnessing the amazing variety of things that people care about and that the government is doing and trying to do.” She also finds it gratifying “to work for someone who truly cares enough to compromise, and really wants to solve our country’s fiscal crisis, and really wants to help his constituents.”
Grad school may be an option, but Page is not considering becoming a politician herself. “I have no ambition to run for elected office,” she says. “I like public service, so I’d like to stick with that for awhile and then see how I can help people in the future.”
Inspiring The Mind • Nurturing The Spirit