CENTRAL HIGH STUDENT AND MOM MEET GOVERNOR

Cecilia Kuntz expected to get little more than a handshake from the governor.

Instead, the Cape Girardeau Central High School junior and nine other students and their parents spent a half hour chatting with Gov. Mel Carnahan in his Jefferson City office prior to his giving the State of the State speech Wednesday.

The students were invited to the capitol by the governor. Carnahan gave each student a buckeye, a traditional good-luck charm.

The students and parents also witnessed Carnahan's speech to lawmakers. The parents sat in the gallery. The students had reserved seats on the House floor, next to Carnahan's department directors.

The governor mentioned the students by name in his speech to lawmakers, which focused on education and the state's duty to provide a solid foundation for Missouri's young people.

Carnahan also spoke about giving buckeyes to the students.

He said his father had given him a buckeye for good luck when he first ran for state representative.

"I carried that buckeye for years in my pocket and every time I touched it, no matter what was happening in my life, good or bad, that message came back to me: Someone believes in you," Carnahan said.

"Even to this day, I keep one in my desk drawer," he said in his speech. "And opening that drawer is like opening up all that love, that strength, and that inspiration that he gave to me," the governor said.

After the speech, the students and parents returned to the governor's office where they witnessed Carnahan's press conference. The students and parents then were treated to lunch there.

"I thought it was neat," said Gabriela Kuntz, who accompanied her daughter, Cecilia, to the capitol. "He was most kind and warm with the students."

Gabriela Kuntz said Carnahan even posed for pictures with the students.

She said her 17-year-old daughter was embarrassed about having her picture taken.

Gabriela Kuntz said she wasn't alone in grabbing a few snapshots. All the parents ended up snapping photos.

She said she even got Carnahan's autograph. "I grew up in downtown Hollywood so I am used to asking for autographs," she said.

Kuntz said her daughter was chosen because she had attended the Missouri Scholars Academy last summer. About 300 high school students from across the state attended the academy held at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Cecilia Kuntz is a straight-A student at Cape Central High School.

She carried her buckeye to school in her backpack Thursday.

She said the governor told the students that they are the future of Missouri.

Cecilia Kuntz said she hadn't expected the governor to spend so much time with the students.

"We were so in awe of everything that was going on," she said Thursday.

"I didn't realize I was going to be in the speech," she said. "He gave me a sense that I was important."