At a local restaurant, Terrell Whittington and wife Chelsea revived a recent conversation about their childhoods and academics at Gary’s now-closed Ernie Pyle Elementary.

They began discussing those school days with their waitress who told them her children could not write in cursive, a penmanship style in which characters are joined together in a flowing manner.

“I came up with the name and then he started jotting down the concept and ideas on a napkin,” said Chelsea Whittington.

That’s the origin of the Cursive Academy and now, the Gary couple is on a crusade to bring cursive writing to Northwest Indiana students.

Their first cursive writing class, which drew 35 students ages 7-17, concluded Wednesday at the Woodland Child Development Center in Hammond. They met with the kids in two-hour classes twice a week for three weeks.

With family members cheering, students walked into the classroom to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” and heard each of their names called out for a diploma.The highlight came as each student signed their name in cursive on the diploma and held it up to the delight of the audience.

Cursive penmanship has been kicked to the curb in the past two decades by technology that favors keyboards over paper and pen.

Although in recent years, it’s made a slight comeback with new laws requiring it in California and Georgia.

Indiana schools may still teach it, but it hasn’t been required since 2011. Some teach it, while others don’t.

Hobart Superintendent Peggy Buffington said cursive is still taught in its elementary schools and it’s also taught in neighboring River Forest schools, said Superintendent Kevin Trezak.

Lake Station Community Schools, doesn’t teach it, said Superintendent Tom Cripliver.

For the 15th time, state Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, filed a bill requiring the teaching of cursive. It didn’t get a hearing during this year’s session.

A statewide survey of 1,770 public and private schools last fall, found 91% of state-accredited private schools offer cursive instruction, but just 52% of public schools reported teaching it.

All the elementary schools in the Diocese of Gary teach cursive writing, said Superintendent Colleen Brewer.

“This is something we have consistently found valuable for our students,” she said.

“Because so many schools do not teach cursive, many students are unable to sign their own names,” Leising said.

“Students are also missing out on the significant benefits of handwriting like increased retention of information. Without knowing how to read or write in cursive, they also lose an important connection to our history as a country, as many of our historical documents were written in cursive,” she said in a statement.

Leising’s persistence has become the butt of jokes from colleagues in the male-dominated Statehouse, but she told the Indianapolis Star they apparently don’t understand cognitive brain development evidence and how writing in cursive has been shown to help children with dyslexia.

The Whittingtons agree.

They believe cursive writing enhances fine motor skills, improves literacy and can lead to fast, more fluent writing. Like Leising, they think it can improve cognitive development, spelling and coping with dyslexia.

“I want to change lives,” said Terrell Whittington about his new life as an entrepreneur after leaving behind management careers at Ford Motor and Illinois Tool Works.

“My handwriting is part of who I am, and we feel that youth should have the opportunity to learn what is slowly becoming a lost art.”

Now, he can share that goal with his wife who’s the communications director for the Gary Community School Corp. and a communications consultant in her firm called CWHITT PR.

“It’s not obsolete,” Terrell Whittington said of cursive. “You still need to sign your driver’s license and other documents… If you want to read the Declaration of Independence, it’s in cursive.”

At first, the kids in the class thought they were teaching them a foreign language, he said. “Then, they started to write and comprehend. They learned quickly.”

Jermontae Epps, 11, of Hammond, said he never learned cursive at his Hammond elementary school. He did notice the penmanship style whenever his parents signed notes to school.

“I’m surprised at how fun it’s been and how quick I learned,” he said.

Sixth grader Ebony Williams, 11, of Hammond, said she never learned cursive, either.

“It was really an experience for us,” she said and she’s looking forward to signing her name to future documents.

In class last year, Ebony said when she took notes, she printed them. “This is so much easier,” she said.

As her son Devon Gibson, 7, walked up to get his diploma, mom Whitney Barnes trained her cell phone’s camera on the moment and could barely hold back her tears.

“He wanted to learn how to write his signature,” she said. “The class was wonderful.”

The next three-week class begins June 30 at the Gary YWCA.

For information, contact Chelsea Whittington at 219-712-3182 or Chelsea@cwhitt.biz.

Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.