"This service learning project taught our students about taking pride in community and to approach the proper authorities with data and evidence to support needed changes in a civil manner," said DBPA teacher Gregory Powell.
The students wanted a crosswalk to keep fellow students safe.
Their concern began three years ago when they observed, if there was an emergency of any kind, students would have to leave the building and wait in the school parking lot across the street. To get there, the students would have to cross the busy intersection at Kammer and West Third.
Under the leadership of Powell, coordinators from Wright State University, and the city of Dayton, the boys began to plan their course of action.
"They worked in groups, counting the cars traveling east and west, surveying the types of vehicles that turned the corner, "said Dr. Anna Lyon, the students' Wright State liaison. "And they presented their findings to the Dayton School District and the Dayton traffic engineer, John Zielinsky," she said.
Even though the collected data proved there was a need for a crosswalk, it did not meet the full criteria for a street light at the crosswalk. So, the city created a compromise with the painted sidewalk. This will at least add a safety measure to get students across the busy street.
The student's labor and planning grabbed the attention of the editors of the publication, Social Studies and the Young Learner, because of an article written by Lyon and Powell.
The cover of the March/April issue features the DBPA students.
The magazine is a publication of the National Council for the Social Studies, the largest professional association in the country devoted solely to social studies education.
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