RIVERVIEW, Fla. — A group of students from Sumner High School is taking the law into their own hands through the “Ought to Be a Law” program.

The students traveled to Tallahassee over spring break to meet with lawmakers, where they received unanimous support for their bill from the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space and Domestic Security.

The bill deals with students in military families, and making the transition to new schools easier for them. The group of students involved says they feel this bill “ought to be a law” because they personally know students who have struggled with making that transition.

The group of Sumner High School students took the four-hour trip last week to do something many teenagers their age would never dream of doing — presenting their very own bill to lawmakers.

“This module is particularly focused on those members of the school departments involved in transferring our military families onto campuses across the state,” said Olivia Mallette, a sophomore at Sumner.

Mallette explained what Senate Bill 1528, or the Military Interstate Children Compact Commission, entails.

“What our goal is, is to take away the sunset clause that was previously set and to establish a training module to be set within Florida which will help the transfer of military students coming from out of state into Florida which will help make their transfer process smoother," she said. "It’ll help them with graduation requirements and more."

With some help from their social studies teacher, Tony Pirotta, the group of girls is taking action that could impact military families for years to come. 

“To give them the opportunity to craft a bill that’s theirs, something that they believe in, and then to also show them that ‘we the people’ still mean something, the government is for the people and by the people,” said Pirotta.

Mallette says the road to Tallahassee was long, and there were some roadblocks, but with each challenge, they pushed forward and prevailed.

Pirotta has been involved in the Ought to Be a Law program for 14 years. He said he has seen seven student bills pass during that time, and many of his students end up pursuing careers in politics because of it.