BOUNTIFUL — Fourth-grader Shawn Jorgensen had roughly 24 hours to prepare and memorize a welcome speech for the governor Thursday.

He was nervous but said he was happy with how he pulled it off — standing in front of the chief of state and two fourth-grade classes, reporters and flashing cameras.

"I just took it home and worked on it over and over again — I was nervous," Jorgensen said.

Along with Jorgensen's speech, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was welcomed to Washington Elementary in Bountiful Tuesday by the state song and around 50 wide-eyed fourth-graders who had awaited the event all week.

The visit was in preparation for the school's hosting of the State of the State Address next week and as a way to thank the school for its efforts.

"We have some very important things that we are going to do here Tuesday," Huntsman told the students. "The Constitution says that the governor every year must report on the state of the state — that's kind of as if the state were a human being — whether it's healthy, whether it's sick, whether it's in good shape or bad shape."

He told students he will be talking about some changes he is hoping to make in schools, like having children spend more time in kindergarten and teaching students more math and science in earlier grades.

"When the clock hits 6:31 I am going to stand up and I am going to report on our state and I am going to say that our state is in pretty good shape and I am going to say that this year is particularly important because we have a little bit more money to spend on things like education and roads," Huntsman said.

He urged students to watch it — even if they have to take a short break from the Jazz game that night.

Jeny Petersen, one of the fourth-grade teachers, said the visit made a deep impact on students and is something they will remember for years to come.

To prepare classes for the visit Petersen said teachers told students who the governor was, talked about his family and pets and helped children prepare questions for him.

"One of the comments I heard when we went back to class was 'he's real,' " Petersen said. "It gave them the opportunity to make a connection with someone that's important that they see on the news — now they have seen him and he has been in their school, on their territory."

Aside from a lesson in government Huntsman asked students for advice on what the state needs in the next 20 years.

Tiffany Webster told him that if everyone just gave their all the state would be in good shape.

"The most important thing we can do is do the best we can," Webster said.

Another popular piece of advice from students was for everybody to just be friends.

Before he left Huntsman made time for a few questions that were burning on fourth-graders' minds. The big one: "How many dogs do you have?"

"Two," he said. "Eddie is a golden retriever and Winston, a British bulldog — the ugliest dog you've ever seen, but he's so ugly he's beautiful."

Huntsman will be addressing the 56th Legislature in his State of the State address on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the school's multipurpose room.

"We're thrilled he chose us," said Chris Williams, district spokesman. "We already have a slogan: 'A governor who wants to talk education comes to Davis.' "

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com