Staff Writer

Not only did University of Maryland senior Avi Mayer get to meet with the president on Monday, but he might have an impact on government policy.

When Mayer, 22, told President George W. Bush that many college students were deterred from studying abroad in Israel because of the State Department warning on travel to the Jewish state, he said the president looked "troubled" to hear that, and "motioned to [White House Chief of Staff] Josh Bolten" to make sure he had heard Mayer's concern.

"I wouldn't expect the president to be aware of everything," he said, but "I was particularly surprised that he was really taken aback by it. ... I hope something will come of it."

Silver Spring's Mayer, a graduate of the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, was one of two college students from the Washington area who were part of a 14-person delegation of Jewish leaders in the higher education community to meet with Bush prior to the annual White House Chanukah reception.

University of Virginia sophomore Maya Pick of Annandale also was selected for the meeting. Pick said she wasn't sure how she was tapped for the honor, but it likely was a result of her work planning a Hillel trip to New Orleans to help rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Lighting the White House menorah on Monday night was another local student, Ariel Cohen, a freshman at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda. She was recovering from a pediatric stroke last fall at Children's Hospital when she attended a Christmas story reading by Laura Bush and asked the first lady whether the White House had a Chanukah menorah ‹ and if she could attend the president's Chanukah party.

White House staff remembered, and asked Cohen, now almost completely recovered, to do the Chanukah honors.

"It was really cool," said Cohen, 14, adding that she was most nervous about lighting the match.

"I'm not good at that," she said.

Meanwhile, at the morning meeting, Pick said she emphasized to the president that the Gulf Coast "still needs help" and isn't fixed yet, and that Bush agreed.

Mayer, 22, said much of the conversation "centered on the presidential perspective on values and the high importance in which he holds them."

Among other topics, he stressed the "need to remain strong against Islamic fundamentalism" and the "need to imbue higher education with values."

He said he found the president "very affable" ‹ he made a reference to the "Fighting Terps" before Mayer spoke ‹ and was impressed with Bush's command of the issues. Mayer said the president spoke without notes and even reeled off some obscure statistics at one point.

The college senior also recalled the president remarking that both the U.S. and Israel suffer from terrible P.R. "We're great people," Bush said, and suggested that ways will have to be found to share that reality with the rest of the world.

While Pick was too young to vote in the last election, the 19-year-old said she has not been a Bush supporter. But she found the president "very, very kind" and was "glad to hear some of the things he said" to the group on Monday, such as his backing of Israel and his belief that terrorists are not truly religious people.

She also said that while she is normally a pretty "nonchalant" person, she was "very, very nervous" and "had to not think about who I was talking to and where I was to keep from smiling" throughout the whole meeting.

The founder and president of the Pro-Israel Terrapin Alliance, Mayer said the group originally had been scheduled to meet with Bush for 25 minutes, but ended up spending more than an hour with him. That included a visit to the Oval Office where each meeting participant had his or her picture taken with the president.

The students also were invited to the annual White House Chanukah bash Monday evening, where Pick brought as her guest her mother, Jodi, a teacher at Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax.

Pick said she wondered if the president would recognize her at the party. Sure enough, in the receiving line, Bush greeted her with "Maya, how are you?" and told the first lady that Pick had been in his meeting that morning. My mom couldn't stop smiling," Pick said.