Essay earns student page slot at Senate

By CHERYL BENTLEY

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Danielle Pellegrino, a Gulf High School senior, has won a slot as a page in the Florida Senate during the 2004 legislative session.

Pellegrino, 18, who has been accepted to attend Florida State University, wrote an essay in a page contest organized by state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. The contest asked: "If you could amend Florida's constitution, how would you do it and why?"

Pellegrino, an honor student, wrote she would repeal the class-size limits in the constitution that apply to grades four through 12. She wrote that research suggests smaller class sizes benefit only students in kindergarten through third grade.

Pellegrino said she learned about the research from state Rep. Heather Florentine, R-New Port Richey, whose daughter, Jennifer, is her friend.

"I ask her questions all the time," Pellegrino said of Fiorentino, a member of the House Education K-20 Committee.

The student pages will participate in a mock legislative session, run errands and attend committee meetings. Fasano also schedules time for discussions with the pages he appoints.

Marisa Corona, 18, of Spring Hill, also submitted a winning essay.

"It has been painfully obvious in the last two election cycles that the Florida constitutional amendments have reached a level of absurdity rivaling the state of California," Corona, a student at Genesis Preparatory School in New Port Richey, wrote

She suggested an amendment requiring proposed constitutional changes be approved in tow referendum votes held in consecutive election cycles.

"This would protect the citizens' right to democracy and make it more difficult to change our beloved document," Corona wrote. "This process has been overwhelmingly successful in other states such as Nevada."