WHAT’S IN A NAME?—Red Oak Elementary School Principal Jon Duim holds up the new “street” signs Dec. 13 that wil be posted on campus walkways. The school held a naming contest and 15 students submitted Rattler Road and three came up with Spirit Street. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers When Red Oak Elementary School Principal Jon Duim challenged his student body to think of “street names” for a pair of walkways on campus, little did he know how big the response would be.

“When I dreamed up this idea I imagined that I would only receive about 20 entries and it would be a simple matter to select the two we needed,” Duim said.

The call to produce names for the walkways brought in 185 possibilities from 77 students. Members of the school staff, site council and parent-faculty association mulled over the possibilities before coming up with a list of finalists, including Alphabet Avenue, Bookworm Boulevard, Learning Lane, Wisdom Way and Pencil Place.

At Monday’s assembly, the two winning street names were announced: Rattler Road and Spirit Street.

Duim said there were so many great name submissions it was difficult to choose just two.

While several students submitted either Rattler Road or Spirit Street, fifth-grader Jaden Greenberg submitted both of the winning names. He said he liked Rattler Road because rattlesnakes are the school’s mascot, and he chose Spirit Street because students at Red Oak have a lot of spirit.

Jaden also likes the alliteration in the street name choices. “I just like the two R’s and two S’s in the names,” he said.

Duim said that enrollment at the school grew by 40 students this year as a result of families moving into the area and others who joined Red Oak through Oak Park Unified’s District of Choice program that allows outof district students to enroll in an Oak Park school.

“Since last year we’ve had a lot of new students come in,” Jaden said. “We sort of wanted to introduce them to where everything is.”

The new signs will complete a newly spruced-up school. Measure R bond funds recently paid for the exterior of the school to be painted.

“A lot of good thought went into thinking up a good street name for these hallways,” Duim said. “I wish I had more hallways to name because the proposed names were very creative.

“I think that the participation and enthusiasm shown for this activity demonstrates our students’ pride in our school and how deeply they feel a part of our school community.”

Jaden agrees. “It’s nice to be here every day,” he said.