S.A. PENNy wars

What color should Mr. Miller's hair be?

The S.A. Penny Wars is our primary fundraiser for the NJASC State Charity.  Many schools in New Jersey do Penny Wars, but our own unique version has been successful year after year.  We typically collect about a quarter-million pennies in just two weeks!  Here's how it works...

Homerooms in each grade compete against each other:

• Each homeroom receives an empty 2-liter bottle.  For two weeks in early October, they compete against each other to fill their 2-liter bottles (each holds 2500-3000 pennies) as fast as possible. 

• Only pennies may be placed in the 2-liter bottles - other coins will not be counted toward their penny count.

• When a homeroom fills a bottle, they turn it in and receive a new 2-liter bottle to fill.  This continues for two weeks, and updated homeroom standings are posted daily.

• The pennies are counted at Commerce Bank (at no cost to us), and each homeroom is credited with the actual number of pennies counted by the machine.

• The homeroom in each grade that turns in the most pennies per person wins a free pizza and soda party.

Homerooms in each grade work together to compete against the other grades:

• Grade level totals are also calculated and announced each day.  Just when it seems that we have a winner...

• During Spirit Week, the Fight Back Bottles are placed in the Cafeteria.  These are 3-liter bottles in which nickels, dimes, quarters, or golden dollars are placed in.  Each coin placed in these bottles takes away its value in pennies from the RAW COUNT, which gives the ADJUSTED COUNT.  For example, a quarter placed in the 6th grade bottle reduces the 6th grade count by 25.  Needless to say, a 6th grader is going to put their loose change in the 7th or 8th grade Fight Back Bottle.

• Meanwhile, the homeroom bottles continue to collect pennies to increased their RAW COUNT, since that will determine which homeroom gets the pizza party and bragging rights for their grade.

• Sometimes the Fight Back Bottles will cancel each other out, but more often two of the grades will collaborate to sink the third.  Whatever the result, we typically collect an additional $1000.00 in these bottles for the State Charity.

• After the counting (and subtracting) is finished, the grade with the highest ADJUSTED COUNT wins 15 Spirit Points, which are important because the grade with the most Spirit Points on May 31 wins a Field Day Barbecue during school time in June.

Back to top