Before special guest D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser arrived at Powell Bilingual Elementary School on Wednesday, students rehearsed their reenactment of the passage of D.C. Law 25-251, the bill that would designate the red-backed salamander as D.C.’s official amphibian.

Fourth grade student Davi Curasi didn’t have a speaking part; but as the salamander, he was the star of the production.

“I was kind of nervous because I thought I was going to be real embarrassed because I had to crawl around on the floor in front of the mayor,” and other important guests, he told WTOP.

But, Curasi, who scurried convincingly across the stage to applause from the audience of students, local elected officials and reporters, said, “Once I actually practiced, I actually felt more confident.”

Milo Evans-Snyder, another fourth grader, played the part of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson. The 9-year-old put on an oversize suit jacket and a fluffy, white mustache to play the role.

“I just memorized all the lines, and tried to make it funnier, because that’s me,” he said with a smile.

On stage, Evans-Snyder nailed his performance as Mendelson, even quoting the chairman, who told a student leader during a salamander bill hearing: “You’ve been a ringleader in all this.”

Bowser, who had come to the school to announce D.C.’s participation in the nationwide upcoming celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, congratulated the students on their civic engagement.

“Our school here at Powell in Ward 4 in Petworth, made a big change for the entire city,” by getting the red-backed salamander named the city amphibian, Bowser told the audience, and urged the students to continue to take part in civic life in the future.