So they did exactly what you’d expect from a group of fifth graders — they teamed together to come up with a solution.

The four young leaders started a petition to gauge the need for a water bottle filler in the fourth- and fifth-grade hallway. According to fifth-grader Ava Potter, between 70 and 80 students and staff agreed that a filler station was needed.

Potter, along with classmates Ray’Zaria Parker, Emersyn Lara and Brooklyn Gilliland, presented their plan to raise the $1,600 needed for the project to the School Board on Monday night.

Potter explained why she petitioned for a water bottle filler.

“Because when fifth-graders want water, we have to walk across the school, which also means wasting school time,” she told the board.

She added that the older water fountain currently in the fifth-grade hallway produces warm water, while the filler station on the other side of the school is “fresh.”

The girls are on what they’re calling “The Water Crusade” to raise the funds for the project. They plan to sell water bottles and bracelets with “Butler Proud” and “Water Crusade” designs.

Butler Principal Jessica Kruckenberg noted that she had told the students that she could probably find room in the school’s budget to cover the cost of the filler station, but the girls told her they wanted to raise the money instead, because they were concerned the money in the budget might be required for other needs.

“What I think is most exciting about this is the fact that when we think about building student leaders, we want them to be able to use their voice in a way that’s going to create change,” she said. “And the four of these students have done this.”

Some students might be anxious to present in front of the School Board, but these students acted like pros.

“It wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t too nervous,” Lara said.

“We practiced a lot,” Parker added.

“I didn’t think there’d be that many people,” Gilliland chimed in.

The School Board was impressed with the students’ presentation. Members Lisa Shimkat and Angie Tracy gave the project a boost by giving the girls their first donations on Monday night.

“The fact that you could have just asked for money, which would have been much easier, but you guys decided to take the initiative to say, ‘We’re going to earn it, because that’s the right way to do it,’ I just wanted to say this is very refreshing,” said Board Member Matt Moritz. “And it just gives me a lot of pride.”

This kind of project doesn’t get done overnight, Kruckenberg said, and she asked the students how they’d feel if they don’t get the opportunity to use the bottle filler.

“None of them said, ‘Well, then we don’t want to do it,'” she said. “It was, ‘Well, then it will be used for somebody else. Other kids will get to benefit from it.'”

“We know what it’s like to have to walk all the way to the cafeteria and sometimes we don’t get to fill up our water bottles,” Parker said.

Potter added that staff will benefit from the water bottle filler because they will no longer have to walk across the building to fill up their bottles.

“The thought that they put into it, and the fact that they were really intentional on what they used to fundraise and how they were going to get it, is impressive,” Kruckenberg said.

Preorders for the Water Crusade water bottles can be made at the Butler School office, 945 S. 18th St., or by calling 574-5882. Water bottles will be $10. Bracelets will be $2. Donations to the project are also accepted at the school.