They Made State History

In 2021, Wertenberger asked a state lawmaker, Representative Randy Garber, to speak to the class. Garber explained that the state legislature would have to pass a law to add a new state symbol. He told the students that the legislature normally meets for only 90 days each year. That didn’t leave enough time to get a bill—a plan for a new law—passed during last year’s session.

The kids had to wait until this year to submit a bill. By then, Wertenberger’s students had moved up to fifth grade. But he kept working with them and got his new fourth-graders involved too.

One of the students, Thomas Richardson, suggested they get even more kids involved. Wertenberger emailed teachers at other schools. Before long, more than 400 fourth- and fifth-graders from 24 schools were working together to choose a state fruit. 

Wertenberger’s class narrowed the choices to four fruits and then sent voting ballots to the other schools. When all the votes were tallied, the clear winner was the sandhill plum. It’s a type of wild plum that’s common in western Kansas. 

Garber wrote a bill that would make the sandhill plum an official state symbol. Then the students wrote letters to their state representatives, and some of them spoke before the legislature. The kids convinced lawmakers to approve the bill. 

On April 12, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed the bill into law, making the sandhill plum the official state fruit. 

“We’re a part of history,” Thomas says.