Armstrong Academy fourth grade college students and their instructor David Pendleton kick off the student-led Spikes2Utah letter writing marketing campaign throughout a press convention on the faculty in West Valley Metropolis on Friday, April 7, 2023. The Golden Spike, the ceremonial remaining spike pushed to affix the rails of the transcontinental railroad, will not be in Utah however as a substitute housed on the Cantor Arts Middle at Stanford College in California. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
Armstrong Academy fourth grade college students put on railroad hats as they kick off the student-led Spikes2Utah letter writing marketing campaign throughout a press convention on the faculty in West Valley Metropolis on Friday, April 7, 2023. The Golden Spike, the ceremonial remaining spike pushed to affix the rails of the transcontinental railroad, will not be in Utah however as a substitute housed on the Cantor Arts Middle at Stanford College in California. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
Armstrong Academy fourth grade scholar Ari Thomas holds an indication as college students kick off the student-led Spikes2Utah letter writing marketing campaign throughout a press convention on the faculty in West Valley Metropolis on Friday, April 7, 2023. The Golden Spike, the ceremonial remaining spike pushed to affix the rails of the transcontinental railroad, will not be in Utah however as a substitute housed on the Cantor Arts Middle at Stanford College in California. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
Someplace inside the partitions of Stanford College’s Cantor Arts Middle lies a vital piece of Utah’s historical past. And the motion to deliver that piece of historical past again to the Beehive State is being led by a fourth grade class at Neil Armstrong Academy.
“We imagine that the golden spike, the silver spike and the hammer that was used within the ceremony at Promontory ... in 1869 belong right here in Utah,” stated Jaden Chadwick, a fourth grader on the faculty.
Regardless of Utah taking part in a historic position within the building of the transcontinental railroad, the golden spike — the ceremonial remaining spike pushed to hyperlink the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads collectively and with the remainder of the nation on Could 10, 1869 — will not be in Utah however as a substitute housed on the Cantor Arts Middle at Stanford College in California.
Throughout a household journey to San Francisco that included visiting the middle to view the golden spike, Neil Armstrong Academy fourth grade instructor David Pendleton was dissatisfied to seek out out that there wasn’t a lot to the show — and even a proof of why it was historic — related to the golden spike, regardless of it being an vital a part of Utah and U.S. historical past.
“That basically puzzled me as a result of, to us, it’s an enormous deal. It’s like an enormous a part of Utah historical past and we study it every year in fourth grade,” Pendleton stated.
By means of this, the Spikes2Utah marketing campaign was born.
Pendleton created a writing task for his college students to write down persuasive letters to the Cantor Arts Middle to try to persuade them that the golden spike deserves an honored place in Utah. Quickly, this straightforward task grew into an all-out letter-writing marketing campaign led by the scholars, requesting that the golden spike, silver spike, and silver maul (hammer) be returned to Utah.
“As individuals go to the museum at Stanford College, they won't know what the spike is once they see it,” stated Ari Thomas, a fourth grader. “The spikes are actually vital (and) the historical past behind them is admittedly vital, too. It issues to us Utahns. We imagine that historical past is asking the spikes residence.”
Armstrong Academy fourth grade college students put on railroad hats as they kick off the student-led Spikes2Utah letter writing marketing campaign throughout a press convention on the faculty in West Valley Metropolis on Friday, April 7, 2023. The Golden Spike, the ceremonial remaining spike pushed to affix the rails of the transcontinental railroad, will not be in Utah however as a substitute housed on the Cantor Arts Middle at Stanford College in California.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
The category has labored with media firms and utilized billboards, radio advertisements, TV advertisements and social media to unfold the phrase and get as many individuals as potential to write down letters.
Pendleton stated the preliminary objective was to get 5,000 letters from across the state — one thing even Pendleton’s personal son believed was a lofty activity.
When requested if he thought it was potential, Joseph Pendleton, one other fourth grader on the faculty, stated, “No offense to my dad, however no.”
Now, the category thinks they will get much more than 5,000 letters.
The category has shared its objective with all the faculties throughout the state and has been working to get most people on board with the marketing campaign via advertisements, a student-designed web site, a Twitter account and Fb web page devoted to the trigger, and a press convention on Friday.
“We imagine that with that engagement, we are able to get effectively over 5,000 (letters),” Pendleton stated, including that the deadline to write down a letter is Could 10 .
By means of the marketing campaign, Pendleton stated that the category has hit 21 language arts requirements, together with requirements in social research, nice arts, visible know-how, communication, advertising and marketing and civic engagement.
“We’re not making an attempt to disparage or criticize Stanford College or the Cantor Arts Middle in any means, however we do imagine that that a part of historical past belongs right here in Utah,” Pendleton stated.
If the scholars are profitable of their marketing campaign, the hope is that the spikes and maul will be capable of ultimately reside in a brand new constructing — meant to accommodate Utah’s historical past — being constructed adjoining to the Utah State Capitol. Utah celebrated the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad with a ceremony attended by 38,000 individuals in 2019 at Golden Spike Nationwide Historic Park.
“I'm so happy with these children,” Pendleton stated. “They've been working so onerous over the past a number of weeks on this marketing campaign, writing and brainstorming and filming they usually have been superior.”
He added, “Whether or not we’re profitable or not within the marketing campaign, after all, we actually hope that we're, the training that has occurred alongside the way in which is simply unbelievable for these college students. They’re going to have the ability to draw on that hopefully for the remainder of their lives.”
Anybody trying to take part on the motion can achieve this by submitting a letter of their very own right here.
“How will you deliver the spikes residence? You may write a letter,” stated Jacob McKenna, a fourth grader at Neil Armstrong Academy. “You may write about how Utah turned the crossroads of the West due to the transcontinental railroad being accomplished right here. You may ask them to ship the spikes again to Utah.”
Armstrong Academy fourth grade scholar Ari Thomas holds an indication as college students kick off the student-led Spikes2Utah letter writing marketing campaign throughout a press convention on the faculty in West Valley Metropolis on Friday, April 7, 2023. The Golden Spike, the ceremonial remaining spike pushed to affix the rails of the transcontinental railroad, will not be in Utah however as a substitute housed on the Cantor Arts Middle at Stanford College in California.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information