Eagle Mountain connector gets unifying new moniker

EAGLE MOUNTAIN -- Roadways are usually aptly, yet sometimes generically, named.

Pacific Coast Highway, for instance, runs along the Pacific Coast. Transcontinental highways run from north to south, east to west, border to border, and coast to coast.

So why has the Eagle Mountain City Council renamed the Seven Mile Pass connector road that joins its city center to The Ranches community?

It is, after all, a stretch of road that runs roughly 7 miles long.

To borrow a popular cartoon catch phrase, "If it weren't for those meddling kids . . ." The kids in this scenario aren't the super-sleuthing Fred, Velma, Daphne and Shaggy of "Scooby Doo" fame, they're a group of fourth-grade students at Pony Express Elementary in Eagle Mountain who set out on a social science project that resulted in the road's new name: Unity Pass.

On Saturday, a ceremony unveiling the sign bearing the road's new name was held near the peak of Unity Pass.

The social studies curriculum for Utah public schools states: "Students will identify ways to help and contribute to their community, while demonstrating respect for Utah and the United States."

As fourth-grade teacher Kevin Rocque and his students discussed the city of Eagle Mountain, they realized that the mountain range that separated the two major components of Eagle Mountain -- City Center and The Ranches -- created a lack of unity for its residents. They wanted to change that perception and, as a class project, set out to find a way.

As the students embarked on the project, they interviewed Mayor Kelvin Bailey, who expressed concern over the division that seemed to exist between the two parts of town. Further class discussions led the students to a decision about what they could do to contribute to their community.

On Dec. 7, Rocque and his students went before the City Council with the idea of renaming the road. The council unanimously approved the proposal and has since added a list of events to promote unity in the city that will be held throughout the year.

At Saturday's ceremony, Rocque and students involved in the project spoke about unity and performed an original song. Blue balloons with cards attached were passed out. Each card contained Web address -- www.unitypassiton.org -- that has information about the students' project.

"(We) are asking people to pass the card and Web address along to anyone and everyone they know," Rocque said. "People can log into the site and gain insight into the 'Unity Pass -- Pass it On' project as well as add their own ideas on how unity can impact their families, their neighborhoods, their communities, their cities, the state of Utah and the United States of America."

While Rocque is the first to admit that it will take more than the renaming of a road to promote unity in Eagle Mountain, he hopes it will be a good start.

E-mail: kmartinez@desnews.com

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