Power of persuasion: Students leave mark on village

In the near future, visitors and residents traveling through Edwardsburg will likely notice a little something different as they make their way along the village streets.

What they’ll notice is quite a lot of school spirit.

The Village of Edwardsburg recently decided to move forward with replacing the village’s street signs with new ones, in Edwardsburg Public Schools colors of blue and orange.

“It was either in May or June of this year,” said village president Jim Robinson, “I received an envelope that had 41 handwritten letters in it from Eagle Lake School asking if the village would like to show more school spirit in changing our street signs from green and white to orange and blue.”

Months went by, Robinson said when the idea came up again at a Corridor Improvement Authority meeting. Originally, he added, village officials thought of simply changing the signs near Section Street, where most of the district’s school bulidings are located. But “there was so much interest,” Robinson said the organization decided to move forward by changing the signs throughout the village.

“ The decision was made to move forward on the project. Two signs have already been put in place near the EPS Administration Center on Section Street.

The signs come at an estimated cost of $62 each. While the village received a “sizeable” donation from the Uptown Improvement Association, Robinson said other private donors have also helped in purchasing new street signs.

As for the kids at Eagle Lake Elementary School, teacher Dan Sorenson said his students who wrote the letters as part of a persuasive essay project when they were in second grade last year, couldn’t have been more thrilled to see their idea put into action.

“We were all more than amazed because when we wrote those (letters) in May we thought, OK, well we’ll write to them and won’t hear back … (it would be a) routine assingment and that’s all,” Sorenson said.

But word got out about the fact that the streets of Edwardsburg were about to get accessorized with Eddie pride.

Sorenson found out in the middle of class one day and told his students the good news.

“Once I informed them, they just gave each other high fives and were smiling ear to ear,” he said. “They were so elated that they had a positive effect on our community.

“They were definitely surprised,” Sorenson said.

“Those kids are just beside themselves that because of the letters they wrote, those street signs are going to be changed to the school color,” Robinson said. “You can see what can happen if you just get involved.”