DALLAS (KRLD) - A fourth-grade girl wants Texas students to visit state parks for free, and she got a state House panel to listen to her.
9-year-old Lily Kay goes to Dallas's Mockingbird Elementary. On a family trip to a national park, she was surprised to learn that kids in other states could visit federal parks for free.
"I asked my parents if there was a program like that for kids in and state parks in Texas," she says.
When she found out there wasn't, Lily decided she wanted to make it happen. She says her family is friends with state representative Morgan Meyer, who oversees District 108 in Dallas.
"My mom helped me get to him, and then I just wrote a note explaining what it would do," Lily says.
Meyer decided to sponsor the bill. They decided that it would give Texas fifth graders and their families free entrance to state parks. Since students learn Texas history in the fourth grade, they would get to see some places they had learned about the year before.
"I believe that even if families don't have the opportunity often, or even ever, it's still important for them to get to do it," says Lily.
Meyer was able to get the bill before a Texas House panel, and Lily made the journey to Austin to speak in front of them. She says it was a little scary.
"One, I'm the only kid, and two I'm the youngest," she says. "It was scary getting the courage to go up there."
But she thinks it was a learning experience.
"I feel like I'm growing up, kind of," she says.
The bill now has to pass a few more committees before it might go before the full Texas House.
