Sen. John Proos, R-St. Joseph, answered a wide range of questions during a town hall-style meeting with juniors and seniors at Brandywine High School Monday morning.

Although he answered 99 percent of the questions, Proos did dodge one: Whom would he endorse to run for president among the current field of Republicans?

Proos said he wasn’t ready to announce that yet, but did say former House speaker Newt Gingrich is very intelligent and has a great knowledge of history. However, Proos said he does not believe Gingrich could defeat President Barack Obama in the election.

Proos has been speaking to Brandywine students for the past four years. During a brief introduction, Proos said he did not become interested in politics until his late 20s. He said an elected official never visited his classroom when he was in school.

“My goal is to give all of you a better sense of what representative means in the hope that it will help all of you become more engaged citizens,” Proos said.

For about 40 minutes, Proos fielded from students and staff questions ranging from taxes on gasoline to school funding to medical marijuana.

One student seated near the back of the lecture hall asked what could be done to protect the rights of those using medical marijuana.

Proos said that about 50,000 medical cards have been given out allowing people to use medical marijuana over the past year and a half. He added that about 55 doctors had approved all those cards.

“Do the numbers on that one and think for a minute how many of those physicians are sitting down with patients and doing a proper work up,” Proos said.

“The problem is people are using it as an opportunity to push for full blown legalization as opposed to living within the construct of the law itself. It says we want to make sure that those that need it have it available for them with the advice of a medical physician.”