"He can make anything interesting," gushed 17-year-old Nicole Heder, a junior at Tooele High.

Of course she has to say nice things. Her dad is a GOP precinct leader in Tooele County. "Rob's been to our house, and he even gave us a hat. When I heard it was his project, I had to do it."

Bishop insists he does not remember and no political favors were granted the Heder family. Nicole just wrote a good essay, he said.

Dustin Orgill, a 17-year-old junior from North Summit High, doesn't have the GOP pedigree that Heder does — he says he likes politics of all kinds — but the Washington experience has been beyond his wildest dreams.

"I love American history, and I am very into politics, and I read everything about them I can my hands on," he said. "But being here is overwhelming, but in a very good way."

Bishop admits he misses teaching. He even taught two weeks at Box Elder High while Congress was on break last Christmas.

He looked around Washington at many different programs where he could volunteer his skills, but nothing seemed to be the right fit until he came across Close Up, which has a strong academic tradition and is a stickler for discipline.

This is the first year Bishop has organized the Close Up trip for kids from the 1st District, and he admits the students are the lab rats to experiment as to what works and what doesn't. But he hopes to open up the program to 20 kids by next year.

"There may come a time when it doesn't work anymore, but right now I am enjoying it," he said. "It is still fun to talk to the kids and, like every teacher, I feel an excitement about my subject area and a desire to pass that on."

And if the lawmaking career doesn't work out, Bishop has a standing offer to go back to teaching at Box Elder High.

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E-mail: spang@desnews.com