A Penny Saved is a Point Earned

Most people think a penny is worth next to nothing. To many it's throw away change. But this week has been different for students at Schreiber High School. Now, a penny could be the difference between victory and defeat.

"The more pennies we get the better," senior Jeanine Imperatore said. "If we have more, then we should get the points and we can win Spirit Week."

Penny Wars are at the center of Spirit Week — five days of competitions between the four grades vying for school supremacy. Each grade is now in the midst of seeing who can make the most coin for its class.

"You want to only put pennies in your grade's jug because they give you positive points," said Ali Lifton, who helped start Penny Wars in 2008 with then-seniors Nicole Rothstein and Amanda Schiff. "Any other coin or dollar should be put into the other grades' jar. So basically, if your jar is mostly pennies then you'll most likely win."

Penny Wars is based around four water jugs that are in the high school lobby. The object of the war is to get as many pennies into your grade's jug, being that good old Mr. Lincoln is the only coin that can gain positive points. Every other coin or dollar is worth its amount in negative points, so the students put those in the other grades' jugs.

"We've seen a few 20 dollar bills in the jugs every year," Lifton said. "So that's 2,000 negative points if you count up its amount in pennies."

This week, Schreiber students will give a whole new meaning to the phrase "See a penny, pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck."

"I hope everyone in our grade donates pennies so we get the most and win the Spirit Week competition," senior Diane Grogan said.

Unlike other years, where the winning grade would get half of the money from its jug put into its club fund and the rest of the money would go to charity, now all of the money will be going to aid the relief efforts in Haiti. In the past, the money went to funding proms and school events, but Lifton said she felt it was the right thing to do with the crisis in Haiti reaching catastrophic levels.

"This year, all of the money is going to charity," Lifton said. "With the recent crisis in Haiti, we felt this was the right move."

Lifton's fellow students agree. "Since we live in a fortunate area, it makes sense for us to donate the money to the less fortunate," senior Maddy Fisher said. "Also, since it's for a good cause it should motivate more people to participate in Spirit Week, especially since pennies gain points for each class."

Imperatore added, "I think that it's great that the money goes to a good cause because charities need more money then we do for a school dance."

Assistant Principal Julie Torres said she thinks this will make the competition even more intense. "It's nice to see the students get amped up to donate for charity," she said. "I think it's great. The Penny Wars are all about fun."

Penny Wars will come to an end at a final assembly on Friday, where the winner this competition as well as Spirit Week will be announced.

"It's exciting to continuously add more pennies to the jug in hopes to win," Fisher said. "As seniors, we really have a drive to win because these are our last memories of Schreiber which we'd like to be good ones."