If Sarah Hamilton of Orem wrote an essay on what she did over the summer, chances are no one else would even come close.

As a Utah senatorial delegate in a student program called Girls Nation last month in Washington, D.C., Hamilton, 17, got to meet President George W. Bush.

"They told us we might be going to the White House," Sarah said, and there was a slight chance the group of 96 girls might get a photo with the president. His schedule was booked, particularly with erupting crisis between Israel and Lebanon.

So Sarah and her Girls Nation peers were shocked when they got to spend a 45-minute question-and-answer session with the Commander in Chief. Their presidential time slot: between Bush's meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the finalists from the FOX TV show American Idol.

"It was incredible. I was so impressed with him. I'd never been that impressed with him before," she said."He was incredibly personable, open and honest and he was a great speaker, one-on-one."

Sarah's trek to Washington began in June when she participated as a representative of Orem High School at Girls State at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, a week-long seminar in self-government and good citizenship. At Girls State, she was elected by the other girls as one of two Utah delegates to form a simulated senate at Girls Nation in Washington, D.C., July 22-29.

"We each wrote and passed bills and formed a government that elected a president," Sarah said of the American Legion Auxiliary-sponsored event.

"I wrote about the Fourth Amendment rights and consent searches."

Sarah, elected to serve in student government at Orem High this year and mayor of the Orem Youth City Council, is no newcomer to the nation's capital.

In 2005, she spent her entire fall semester serving as a page in the U.S. Senate. Sponsored by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Sarah was one of only 30 students selected to rub elbows on the Senate floor with the nation's most powerful legislators. She was present for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts's confirmation hearings, an all-night emergency session for Hurricane Katrina relief funding, and when Sen. Harry Reed, D-Nevada, called for a closed session -- the first in 20 years.

"I would come home for Christmas break and my mom had recorded C-SPAN and I saw myself," Sarah said.

In addition to working full-time as a Senate page, each page attended early morning classes at the U.S. Senate Page School where she received honors as the outstanding student in British literature, political science and mathematics.

"The school was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Sarah said.

Memorable trips during her Girls Nation experience included a stop at the State Department, a tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and singing patriotic songs at the National World War II Memorial. Yet her favorite was going with a Senate page friend who was also at Girls Nation to the Lincoln Memorial.

"I really love the Lincoln Memorial at night when you can sit on the steps and can see the lights and the Capitol behind it," Sarah said.

She's now busy writing essays for college applications for her next goal: Harvard University. Sarah plans to major in math before attending law school.

Carolyn Hamilton, Sarah's mother, also participated in Girls State as a teen and is the chairwoman of the math department at Utah Valley State College. She said her daughter is a quick learner, a compassionate leader and tenacious about realizing her goals.

"When I think back on high school, if I only knew then what I know now, I could have achieved anything," she said. "Sarah's already figured that out. She's figured out to be kind to others instead of competitive." The oldest of six, Sarah said her parents have always underscored the importance of education.

"I'm always pushing myself to do better," she said. "I always try to take the hardest classes, ones I like, and ones that will push me, but having a math professor for a mom helps too."