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As a teenager, it's often cool to act unimpressed — say, when a member of Congress speaks at your school.

That's why U.S. Rep. Howard Coble was elated after he spoke to students in a makeshift room at the burned-out Eastern Guilford High School on Nov. 2.

He made the long walk halfway across campus to his car. As he was firing up the engine, a student came running up, out of breath and gasping — about to keel over.

Taylor Sawyer, 15, had pushed and shoved her way through a packed room of students, struggled to gain footing in a temporary gravel parking lot and sprinted to catch up with Coble.

"I had never met a congressman, and I wanted to," she said.

The startled Coble recalls, "I was just so impressed how she took that much effort to see an old man who came to her school."

He was so impressed that he invited the 10th-grader and her parents, Herb and Kim Sawyer, to his district office on North Elm Street.

On Monday, he gave them 2008 congressional calendars, introduced them to his staff, answered questions and invited Taylor to sit at his desk.

She recalled that when she returned from chasing the congressman, some classmates gave her a bemused, "What's the big deal?" look.

"If you don't know, you wouldn't understand," she replied.

Taylor says she may want to attend law school. She's curious about how the government works.

One gets the feeling that during her short life, she has seen government at its best and worst.

She and her family moved to the area in July 2006 from coastal Mississippi, after being battered by Hurricane Katrina.

Herb Sawyer works for Lab Corps in Burlington. Kim Sawyer is a nurse for a managed care health system.

Soon after the Sawyers arrived, Taylor's school burned down.

Her mother believes Taylor's experience with Katrina helped her adjust to the upheaval that has taken place at Eastern Guilford since the fire.

Taylor saw people make do after buildings were destroyed in Mississippi.

Her mom notes that this is one teenager who does get excited about old institutions and people in high offices.

"You have no idea," Kim Sawyer told Coble. "She was so excited after meeting you, you would have thought you had handed her a million dollars."

Contact Jim Schlosser at 373-7081 or jschlosser@news-record.com