MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — Inside Milkovich Middle School, a detail that would disappear in the fold of a map was no match for Mrs. Hogan’s sixth-grade social studies class.
In September 2022, her class opened up a 2020 map of Cuyahoga County, and quickly noticed that the locations for the Maple Heights City School District buildings were not up-to-date — far from it.
"The kids needed kind of a refresher on cardinal directions," teacher Julie Hogan explained. "We bought a map at Barnes & Noble and spread it out and the kids noticed right away, as did I, that their schools were not correct. [The district] had built new schools but it wasn’t reflected."
So, the students collectively wrote a letter to the mapmaker, based in Vancouver, offering to help update the map with the new locations for their school buildings.
"I’m a long way from Cleveland," said Guy Johnson, President of GM Johnson Maps, with a chuckle.
This Canadian cartographer smiled when he received the letter and quickly went to work.
"So the first thing we did was we went and got new data for all of Cleveland and all of Cuyahoga County," he explained. "We get our data from, a lot of times, from the county because they have what they have is a GIS system and they're responsible to map all the properties and all the infrastructure, and a lot of times they'll have schools and parks."
Students receive the newly updated maps
Fast forward a year, and the new maps have been printed, and a special supply of them was sent to Milkovich Middle School this week.
The group of now 7th graders reunited and saw how they made their mark on the world.
"You did that," Mrs. Hogan exclaimed to one group of students as they opened the maps. "That is so stinking cool. I am so proud of you guys."
"We worked really hard on it," student Ava Coleman explained. "I didn’t actually think that we were able to change it, but it actually worked."
It's proof that some of life’s greatest lessons can’t be taught from a textbook.
"We made a whole new map," student Micháel Davis said. "I want people to believe no matter how old you are, or where you come from, you can do anything if you put your mind to it. I’m proud of myself that I got to be a part of something big."
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5.
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