The citizens who testified at city hall last week were far younger and, arguably, far more persuasive than those who usually come before the D. C. Council.

The four of them, officers of the student     1    at Alice Deal Middle School in Northwest, had     2    this year to take on something bigger than parties, spirit days and other typical student government fare.

They wanted to effect change, leave a legacy.

Very     3    , they wanted to give their classmates a covered Metro bus shelter on Nebraska Avenue near Deal, a place where students could get out of the wind and driving rain while waiting for a ride home each afternoon.

“ When we were elected,we said, 4 We want to make some change, , said Ben Kom, an eighth-grader and the council’s president. “ We didn’t want to take on something too big,but something big enough to make a     4    . “Speaking before the D, C,Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment at the John A. Wilson Building on Thursday, Ben told of a cold and     5    fail afternoon that found him waiting more than an hour and a half for his M4 bus. Unlike the region’s suburban school systems, the District’s public schools do not have their own fleet of buses, and most students take public transportation to and from school. “By the time I got home,it was dark,and I was cold and wet,’’ said Ben • UI know my fellow officers here today and the rest of the Deal student body have faced     6    situations. That is why we are here. ‘‘

Ben and his colleagues came up with the idea for the bus shelter and     7    the D. C, Council with the guidance of their principal, James Albright. The students met with Andrew Newman, a staffer for council member and transportation committee chairman Mary M. Cheh ( D- Ward 3 ) , who suggested that they present their     8     at a public roundtable downtown.

With students’ efforts,the District struck a deal with Clear Channel Communications in 2005 that calls for Clear Channel to build up to 788 bus shelters in return for the right to     9     on them. So far, they’ve built 745, leaving room for the Deal shelter. “It’s a win-win for all parties at no cost to D. C. taxpayers.

This was a lesson in not getting everything you ask for, but the students were brave. They had also learned another lesson, how to     10    a problem, find a solution and take action.

Reading Comprehension