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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Governor Surfs Web At Jefferson Chief Executive Tells Students Worst Part Of Job: Getting Up At 5 A.M.

Amy Scribner Staff writer

It was a computer that brought Gov. Gary Locke to Jefferson Elementary last week, and computers that kept him busy most of the morning.

Nancy Avery’s combination second- and third-grade class sent the governor an electronic invitation a few weeks ago when the students heard he’d be making a daylong stop in Spokane as part of his Capital for a Day program.

Who knew he’d respond?

Locke spent the better part of last Thursday morning at Jefferson. He said he was impressed at the accessibility to technology at the school, where computers line the hallway.

He signed his name in a computerized guest book and surfed the Web looking at the governor’s home page.

That was the easy part. The real challenge came when Avery’s class put him in the hot seat for a press conference, the likes of which he may never see again.

Eight- and 9-year-olds in the class, which is in the middle of a unit studying careers, grilled him about his job.

What’s the best part? Meeting the people of Washington, answered the governor.

The worst? Getting up at 5 a.m. to travel, he said.

How’d you get the gig? There are no specific requirements to become governor, he told the class. You just have to work - and study - hard.

“Becoming governor is not easy,” he said.

Hard-nosed reporter Erik Walter, a third-grader, asked the truly tough question: Will you run for a second term?

At just more than 10 months into his first, Locke said he’d have to give that one some thought.

“But I like my job,” he assured them.

Thursday was a bit hectic at the school, with police on motorcycles keeping watch from a corner lot and the governor running a little behind schedule. But for Principal Mary-Dean Wooley, who waited for Locke on the front steps along with students Avi Zellman and Samantha Hough, it was worth it.

“I’m so proud he’s coming to Jefferson,” she said. “We think it’s pretty slick.”

, DataTimes