Union Beach Students Quiz Christie on Sandy, Possible Presidential Run

Gov. Chris Christie visited a newly rebuilt school in Sandy-devasted Union Beach Wednesday and answered students' questions about what it's like to run the state, whether he gets to have his own limousine, and whether he's going to run for president. 

"I am going to need a job after I am governor so we'll see what I want to do -- whether I want to go back and be a lawyer or whether I want to work in business or whether I want to run for office," said Christie to a classroom of seventh graders.

"But the first job now is to get this stuff with Sandy done the right way and get you back in your homes and hopefully get re-elected as governor in November. Then after that we'll figure out what we're going to do next," he said.

Christie toured the K-8 school that had been destroyed by the Hurricane Sandy storm surge that wrecked low-lying areas in the 2-mile square town. Since Oct. 29, 2012, students have been attending school out of town, with younger students at Hazlet's former Holy Family School on Route 36 and the older students at Keyport's Central School and High School. Now they are back home, together. 

"I never pictured myself in another school and I didn't know what I had until I lost it," said seventh grader Nicole Gaillard. She said that it is "amazing" to be back.

The governor said, "I was really excited to come here today because I knew things were going to be much better here and so it's always good to go someplace where you know people are going to be happy rather than sad." 

A fourth grader asked what Christie's plan was when he first saw the devastation in Union Beach. 

"The first thing was to get everyone safe and warm and fed. The next thing now was to get you back in your schools, now you're back. The next thing is for the people who lost their houses, to get them new houses," he said. "Those are the three most important things, I think."

One stop on Christie's tour of Memorial School was Joyce Jenson's seventh grade classroom. There the students presented him with a collection of essays they wrote when they were relocated to Keyport High School. 

"We had no textbooks, we had very little in the way of supplies. So to get [the students] back into the swing of things and give them a sense of normality we ended up having these essays done," Jenson said after Christie's visit. 

Before leaving Memorial School to visit Monmouth Beach, Christie reassured the students that financial help was on its way.

"I had a meeting yesterday about all of the Sandy work we're doing around the state. One of the great things I heard about was what you're doing here in Union Beach, where volunteers are taking down the houses," he said.

"Every one of those houses that is taken down makes room for a new house to be built up and the money we're getting from the federal government will help your families move home."