Students at Panorama Community School District had a special guest Friday.

US Senator Joni Ernst was at Panorama High School to talk to the high school and middle school students, and share how someone from a small town or rural area could find success if they look for it. She talked about her background of growing up in rural southwest Iowa, how she came to join the military after an ag sharing trip to Ukraine during the reign of the Soviet Union, and how she stepped into the political realm by first becoming a senator in the Iowa Statehouse, and then the US Statehouse.

Students were able to ask Ernst questions afterwards, with topics ranging from personal to political. Ernst answered all the questions asked, from how old she is, to if she knew former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden personally, from is life as a Senator stressful to what groups she supports. She did tell her age after joking that you don’t ask a woman with gray hair her age, said she has good working relationships with both Trump and Biden, that life as a senator is stressful, and that the group that has her support entirely, no matter their beliefs, is Iowans.