Nikole Weber, Kasey Dauenhauer and Kelly Tanga were nervous as they walked into the King County Council Chambers on Monday.
On the dais were the council members and there were television cameras as well as photographers capturing their presentation.
The trio, students in Kentlake High’s leadership class, were there to persuade the County Council to change the name of Southeast 300th Street that the school is located on to Falcons Way in an effort to boost school spirit and create a strong connection with their neighbors.
Councilman Pete Von Reichbauer, whose district includes Kentlake High, told the girls “not to worry, there’s only 430,000 people watching you.”
It started, Tanga explained, when Kentlake athletic director Bill Heglar suggested they name change.
“Mr. Heglar had done this at another school,” Tanga said. “He told us about the experience and how it uplifted their spirit. Our leadership class decided it was something we really wanted to do.”
With the assistance of junior Jill Jamison, another member of the class, the girls began working on the project in February.
Tanga said she contacted local officials and discovered they needed to work with the county.
Weber e-mailed the county department of transportation to find out who to talk to and was directed to Von Reichbauer.
“We had to write a petition,” Weber said. “We had to get permission from the school to write the petition. We had to go to homeowners across the street (because they would be affected). After we got the signatures it was only 20 days until the council meeting.”
Dauenhauer said this has been a daily project for them since February and the group spent a fair amount of time working on the petition and writing the script for their presentation.
They spoke before the council at 11:30 a.m. on Monday arguing that the name change would be beneficial for Kentlake school spirit.
“It’s something that connects us and something we’ll always have in common (with the school’s neigbors),” Tanga said.
And though they didn’t bring it up at the meeting, Dauenhauer said, the new name will probably make it easier to find their school out on the edge of southeast King County.
“If you Mapquest it, it sends you into Remington up 300th and everyone gets lost,” Dauenhauer said. “We did good for being nervous and rushed through it. They said we were articulate and that was cool.”
Weber said it was a gratifying experience to present their argument to the council.
“It felt like we had something important to say and they were willing to listen to us,” Weber said.
There were a pair of homeowners who objected to the name change, the girls explained, with a woman who runs a business from her home concerned about the costs of changing her cards and stationery for her venture.
The other homeowner sent an e-mail explaining that he was uncomfortable supporting Kentlake when students use his yard to cut class and smoke or they cut through it to get to school.
Tanga said Kentlake officials are trying to get a school resource officer next school year to address those concerns and the group hoped that would ease some of the man’s concerns as well as prove the students and school were willing to work on those issues.
After they completed their presentation, the entire leadership class was back on the bus ready to leave Seattle and back to school, when one of their classmates was on the phone with his mom while the council was voting on the proposal.
“She was watching it on TV and she said, ‘It’s been approved, it’s been approved,’” Tanga said. “Then our friend announced it to the bus and every started cheering and it got really loud.”
The council approved the name change 7-2.
Dauenhauer said the county will try and get the street sign changed quickly at the student’s request.
“I think we’re doing an unveiling ceremony before the seniors leave,” Dauenhauer said.
Weber added that they’d “like to do it by June 12 before graduation.”
It is a relief to have the process complete.
“I was excited,” Dauenahuer said. “We actually put in all the effort and got something good out of it.”
