The 9-year-old was standing before the Delaware House of Representatives Thursday with about a dozen of her classmates delivering a pitch for a bill changing the dates on the state seal.

"I've never had to talk in front of that many people before," she said after lawmakers voted 28-0 to send House Bill 128 to the Senate.

The students from Middletown's Cedar Lane Elementary School took part in a program that teaches fourth-graders about how the legislative process works.

Teacher Carrie Daniel beamed as her student-lobbyists met with lawmakers before going home.

"This is absolutely, positively and unmistakably awesome," Daniel said. "Our students got to stand in front of the General Assembly, speak and make history."

If approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, the bill would change the dates on the state seal from 1793, 1847 and 1907 - the years that changes to the seal were voted - to the dates of 1704, 1776 and 1787.

Those were the years that Delaware established a General Assembly and separated from Pennsylvania, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed, and the year Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

House Majority Leader Wayne Smith, R-Clair Manor, praised the program as a way to get young people interested in government - and the students for their presentation. "These young people may have given a better maiden speech than I did," he said.

Hugel and classmate Robert Prichard IV said they might be interested in having Smith's job in a few years.

"I've learned it's hard work," Prichard said. "But it's exciting to get to pass laws for the whole state."