Whiz Kids: Students From The Goddard School Raise Money for Tsunami Victims

School: The Goddard School of Lake Orion

Students' ages: Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten

Accomplishment: Children from the nearby Goddard School worked together with their families to raise money for tsunami victims in Japan.

Key to Awesomeness: The students – who are all six years or younger – collected pennies to donate to the American Red Cross for disaster relief in Japan.

Each class received a point for every penny they collected, and points were taken away for paper bills and coins other than pennies.

"Parents were so involved that one in particular brought in eight boxes of rolled pennies from the bank into his child’s class and dropped $20 bills in their competitors," wrote Jordy Patano, a publicist for The Goddard School, in an email to Patch. "They planned the ‘penny war,’ which helped educate children on coins and money as well as helped facilitate dialogue to help answer any questions that they had" about the tsunami in Japan.

While one of the preschool classrooms won the competition by earning the most points, it was the pre-kindergarten class that collected the most money, donating an impressive $1,000 to the Red Cross.

The penny war ran for two weeks, and the school raised a jaw-dropping $2,500 for the American Red Cross. 

Do you know our next Whiz Kid?

Each week, Oakland Township Patch seeks suggestions from readers for individual kids, youth groups, teens, and even sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments. We want to hear about these amazing children and teens and select one each week as the Patch Whiz Kid.  Submit your nomination in our comment box below or e-mail the information to editor Jen Anesi. Be sure to include all of the following information:

• Nominator's name
• Whiz Kid's name and age
• Whiz Kid's school
• Whiz Kid's accomplishment
• Whiz Kid's key to awesomeness (what made him/her successful?)