Lansing - As they walked through the Senate wing of the state Capitol, 25 elementary students gasped in awe at the massive beauty of the building's rotunda.
"The rotunda is for us, the constituents," Capitol tour guide Dan Reynolds told the fourth-graders.
"It's supposed to make us feel proud - does it make you feel proud?"
With mouths open wide, the class stared up through the rotunda's wooden balconies to the high blue ceiling painted with gold stars and answered with a resounding, "yes."
The students and teacher Bill Lenyz traveled from Nellie Reed Elementary School in Vernon, about 40 minutes northeast of Lansing, to attend the tour earlier this week.
Sixteen capitol tours are led per day, and people have been touring the building since 1979. The tour guides, often MSU students, show various groups the inside of the building and explain its architecture, historical and artistic significance and how it is maintained.
"Will we get to see Jennifer Granholm?" 10-year-old Travis Trzcinski said to his guide.
He and his classmates stuck their heads into the governor's parlor room to see if they could see Granholm working.
"I want to meet her because she's the head of our government - I want to hear what she has to say," Travis said.
Several students said their favorite part of the tour was getting to sit in the balcony of the House chambers, so they could see representatives in session.
"It was cool because we were up high and they were down below," said 10-year-old Jordan Snyder.
"I saw lots of people doing work, working on laws," she said.
Rep. Larry Julian, R-Lennon, called the attention of the representatives to acknowledge the students, constituents of his district.
The children peered over the balcony of the east gallery as lawmakers waved and shouted hellos to the class.
Janelle Fuja, 9, was shocked when Reynolds, an MSU history senior, told the students how old the Capitol is.
"The Capitol is 124 years old. That's really old, and I got nervous going up the stairs, I thought they would break," she said.
Lenyz's class spent time learning about Michigan candidates before the November election. Zack Kish, 9, said he researched Granholm before he decided who to vote for during his school's mock election.
"We get all this information and we read about our governor and representatives," he said.
Zack said he thinks it could be interesting working in government when he is older - it seems he's already begun planning.
"I would give a head start on multiplication, I would start it in second grade," he said.
Prior to their visit to the Capitol, Lenyz said his students took a virtual tour of the Capitol online and learned how a bill becomes a law.
Hallie Louch, 10, said visiting the Capitol was fun because they were able to meet their senator and representative, and her class learned new things.
"We got to learn about things we didn't get to learn about in school."
