24-05-2025
Olympia students are campaigning to rename Stevens Field for beloved teacher
Among the attendees at Tuesday's Olympia City Council meeting was a group of fifth graders from Lincoln Elementary. Their goal? Take the first steps to get the city's Stevens Field renamed in honor of former teacher Randy Edwards.
Stevens Field, Olympia's first ball field, sits south of Lincoln Elementary in the South Capitol neighborhood.
The name Stevens Field commemorates Washington's first governor, Isaac Stevens, and his son, Hazard Stevens, but students said in public comment that Governor Stevens' violent legacy should not be celebrated. They said the city should consider a new name — one that recognizes a local teacher, coach, and mentor who made an impact on generations of Olympia youth.
While the idea to rename Stevens Field began with Lincoln Elementary volunteer Jan Rocks, students at Lincoln have taken the lead to petition the city and school board to rename the field.
Rocks said, 'This project is now a kid project.'
According to Michael Stine, who teaches fourth and fifth grade at Lincoln, the school's theme for the year is community.
'In our classroom, we decided to pursue advocacy in community, so we started learning about, first of all, identity and advocacy in general,' he said. 'I broached the idea of the park project to the kids, and they were really enthusiastic because they use the field.'
From there, students learned about how parks are renamed from Olympia parks staff. They examined how Priest Point Park was recently renamed Squaxin Park and split into teams to work on presentations for their classmates, outreach to the neighbors, and public comments for the city council and school board.
Born into a New England family, Isaac Stevens graduated at the top of his class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He fought in the Mexican-American War where he developed ties with then-brigadier general Franklin Pierce.
Following Pierce's ascension to the presidency, he proclaimed Stevens as the first governor of Washington Territory. Here, Stevens led from 1857 to 1861 when he was summoned back to the battlefield during the Civil War.
Stevens is often remembered for his leadership in the Union Army, but his influence on Washington state and its Indigenous communities continues to raise concerns.
'During the beginning of Stevens' time serving as governor, Stevens got mad that the Native Americans were living near the citizens of Olympia,' one student told the city council. 'In his anger, Stevens used his power to get the chief of Nisqually executed.'
In addition to the execution of Chief Leschi, students said Governor Stevens forged deceptive treaties with the Nisqually Tribe, forcing them to cede their land and rights to his government. They also said Stevens illegally declared martial law during the Yakima War and pardoned himself after facing legal consequences.
Despite Governor Stevens' troublesome legacy, the park has honored him and his son for over a century. Acquired in 1921 by former Olympia Mayor George Mills, the field was named after Stevens and his son, Hazard Stevens, who the land was purchased from. Mills then sold the field to the Olympia School District for $6,000. It has since been home to the Olympia Bears and other local teams under the school district's ownership.
'If we called it Edwards Field, we'd be saying thank you to someone who meant a lot to our community as a teacher, coach and referee,' another student said in a public comment.
Known as 'Randy' and 'Mr. E' to most, Edwards taught fourth and fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary for 40 years, between 1969 and 2009, but even in retirement, he volunteered and coached throughout the community.
He worked as a P.E. teacher through Olympia Regional Learning Academy for 10 years after retirement. He served as a coach and president of the Little Baseball Association, and coached baseball and softball for Olympia High School and South Puget Sound Community College. He passed away in 2022.
'When he coached, he was about sportsmanship, letting every kid try every position on the baseball field,' said his son, Ben Edwards. 'You know, it doesn't matter if it wasn't necessarily their strength. If they wanted to try it, that's what it was about.'
Ben Edwards shared an excerpt from an eighth-grade project a former student created about Mr. E.
'He's my hero on levels as simple as helping me out on the first day of school, to things as large as teaching after his open-heart surgery and showing me what school could be like,' the student wrote.
Though community members and former students shared fond memories of Mr. E's leadership, there is still a ways to go before the field can officially adopt a new name.
While city council members voiced their support for the students' campaign, Mayor Pro Tempore Yen Huynh said, 'How do we get to a point where we don't accidentally rename something after someone and later find out maybe there's these less-than-nice things they've done.'
Huynh said the city is working on a process for renaming facilities such as public parks.
In the meantime, Stine and his students plan to continue their advocacy by speaking at the school board meeting on June 12 and sharing the campaign with the community.
'Trying to get more adults involved, reaching out to South Capitol Neighborhood Association and hopefully getting them on board, that's really the next step,' Stine said.
Ben Edwards said his family is grateful for this effort.
'Our family is touched that Michael's class would advocate to change the name of the field in honor of a man who dedicated a large part of his life to the youth in our community.'
