Students raise money for worthy cause

For many, a penny is considered worthless. After all, there's not much you can buy with a penny. However, overseas a penny can be of high value. And a collection of them might just help to build a school.

Every year, Scott Kinney, principal of Superior Elementary, said that they try to pick a service-project for the kids to do and to be involved in. One of those projects is Pennies for Peace.

"It's sort of our ongoing service learning project," Kinney said.

This year, the student council collected 33,875 pennies or rather they raised $338.75 for the non-profit organization. Kinney said that at the beginning of the year they show a video that talks about the organization and the projects that they work on.

One of the goals of Pennies for Peace is to allow children in the countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan to have access to education, Kinney said.

Pennies for Peace was founded by Greg Mortenson. Mortenson, who is from Bozeman, Mt., was wounded while climbing Pakistan's K2, one of the world's second highest mountains. While recovering in a village called Korphe, Mortenson met some children who were writing in the sand with sticks and he made a promise to help them build a school.

Pennies for Peace began at Westside Elementary School in River Fall, WI in 1994, when students, through their own initiative, raised 62,340 pennies to help Mortenson build his first school in Pakistan.

The program is designed to help students broaden their cultural horizons and learn about their capacities as philanthropists. It educates students about the world beyond their experience and shows them that they can make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time.

Kinney said that this has certainly been the case at Superior Elementary. He said that by participating in the efforts to collect pennies, students at the elementary are exposed to the conditions of learning that other children experience.

"They come to appreciate what they have and they come to understand the fact that other cultures don't have white boards or smart boards and that they learn their numbers and letters on the ground by writing in mud," Kinney said. "And they always get right behind it."