By City Times staff

NEKOOSA – Local manufacturer, Nekoosa, collaborated with student council members at Port Edwards Junior High and Darci Laudenbach, owner of CC Graphics, to cut, weed and install vinyl quotes within the school hallways.

The students came up with the idea to add school colors and motivation, first meeting with Laudenbach and Tianna Vanderhei, marketing communication specialist at Nekoosa, in early January to determine locations for the graphics.

Dakota Bares, vice president of the Port Edwards Middle School Student Council said the plans for creating quotes started last year.

“We wanted to decorate our hallways because they’re pretty blank. It’s really exciting and you kind of feel proud because you know that for the next like 10 years all the people coming up, they’re going to see them and think oh there are the quotes,” Bares said.

Kaelyn Chasenah, president of the Port Edwards Middle School Student Council, said that the project helped the students come together.

“It’s harder when you’re younger to leave your mark and this is our way of doing that for our school,” she said. “We all don’t communicate as much as we should as a council so it’s pretty cool to see everyone come together.”

Local businesses teamed up with student council members at Port Edwards Junior High. Submitted photo.

Bares added, “When I see it and our council sees it, it’s pretty cool to think that we did that.”

Vanderhei said that it is important that her company, and Laudenbach’s, play a role in assisting local schools.

“As a for-profit business, we also strive to be a good community partner and are excited to support the Port Edwards Student Council members,” Vanderhei said. “In this case, we are donating our product to provide inspiration and heightened creativity for a local school.”