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K-8 kids raise<br>$2,213 in pennies

GC VILLAGE — Grand Canyon School’s march to contribute funds to the Red Cross in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks revealed an impressive display of enthusiasm and compassion last week.

Grand Canyon Middle School Student Council members David Robinson, from left, Matthew Beckerleg and Chris Streit feed pennies into a coin-rolling machine Thursday afternoon at Grand Canyon National Park Lodges.

The school’s elementary and middle-school students pitched in 221,352 pennies over a seven-day period. For those not efficient in math, that comes out to $2,213.52.

"I was very impressed with them ... this is phenomenal for a small school," said Jillian Worssam, middle-school teacher. "The middle school student council sponsored this, they did all the counting, spending hours after school and during lunchtime."

The Grand Canyon Middle School Student Council literally went on a march Thursday afternoon during the final leg of the fund-raising project. The students loaded tubs and buckets filled with pennies onto the flatbed of a school truck and headed down to Grand Canyon National Park Lodges’ general offices.

With the local bank requiring the pennies to be deposited in rolls, GCNPL donated the use of its coin-rolling machine for the cause. The students appreciated the gesture, because the pennies would amount to 4,427 rolls, which would result in many sore fingers if done by hand.

To create an extra push among the student body, the student council sponsored a contest with the winners receiving their choice of a pizza party or ice cream social. Shelly Talker’s fourth- and fifth-grade class came out on top with $246.91.

"I told them we were challenged by Mrs. Gearman’s class and we took them on," said Talker.

Talker’s class not only beat Gearman’s students, but the rest of the K-8 school as well. Lois Ingram’s class was second with $229.32.

Actually, the eighth grade raised the most money, but made themselves ineligible for the class prize because their students were directing the contest.

Naturally, the friendly competition did not take away from the end cause. All students felt good about themselves contributing to the families of victims from Sept. 11.


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