Variable Persistence in ASP.NET - or lack thereof.

[cbvbguy]

Inside the class of my webform, I define a new variable, an integer, like this:

Public Class WebForm1
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
    Protected test As integer

Then I have a button that just assigns a value to Test.

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        test = 5
    End Sub

However, when the users clicks a submit button (an empty one) and the page refreshes, test returns to 0. Why? Is there any way I can have this variable persist!?