Brigita Gerulskis was only looking to get more involved in school when she decided to enter the "Why I Love the Land of Lincoln" poster contest in February.

Mission accomplished, and then some.

The Indian Trail Middle School 7^th grader was named the district winner for the contest, which was sponsored by state Rep. Emily McAsey (R-85th) to commemorate President Abraham Lincoln's 202^nd birthday.

Gerulskis received a House Certificate and spent May 12 in Springfield working with McAsey at the state capitol. She also visited the governor’s office and sat in the governor’s chair.

“That was really cool,” she said.

She also got to cast McAsey’s votes on several issues during the legislative session, by pushing the “red” and “green” buttons used to indicate the representatives’ position on questions.

The poster itself includes eight “sun rays” – one for each letter in “Illinois” --  each featuring some element about the state, including Chief Illiniwek, Chicago and, of course, Abraham Lincoln.

“I put in the sun rays to show how Illinois shines,” Gerulskis said.