Students at Spring Hill Elementary have learned that no voice is too small when it comes to making improvements in their state and community.

The school’s fourth grade gifted students decided to make their voices heard after the wheel of their charter bus dropped into an eroded gully, leaving them stranded on a steep road leading to Wahsega Camp near Dahlonega. They were stuck for over four hours while they waited for a replacement bus to back down the dirt road in the dark to rescue them. Tired but safe, the students, their teachers and chaperones arrived home at 1:30 in the morning.

“That road really scared me,” says student Ben Sexton about the experience. Classmate Katie Stone added, “ We had the best time and we want other kids to be able to go to Wahsega, too.”

Ben came up with a campaign slogan, “Save the Road and Save Wahsega,” and students started writing letters to Governor Sonny Perdue to get the road repaired.

Being that the road is in a national forest, the governor responded that the state of Georgia does not have the authority to fix it. He suggested that the students write to the U.S. Forest Service, which the students did.

“We have learned that one person can change the world and I want to do that,” Katie wrote in her letter.

The students’ letters caught the attention of Angela Coleman, the chief of staff to the deputy chief for the National Forest System. She was so impressed with their passion to repair the road that she is visiting the students on December 20 to personally address their concerns and explain how the National Forest Service works.

“The students are very excited that Washington has listened and feel that they can make a difference. This has been a wonderful lesson in citizenship and we expect that these students will continue to write letters of concern about important issues in the future,” say enrichment teachers Martie Johnson and Susan Holcombe.

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