Ninth grader Kayla Prough reaches into her pocket, pulling out some spare change and putting it in the decorative holiday plastic container that her lunch monitor was passing around.  Prough is one of the many students who supported Sharing for the Holiday by donating spare change and helping fellow students in the school during the week of Dec. 3.

“There were 35 kids,” Lisa Plummer said, referring to the number of students who would be helped from this fundrasier.  “We have been doing this project ever since this building has been opened.”

The project had also been done at Roosevelt Junior High School.

The total amount of money raised from the students was $1,481.68, which “compared to other years, that was a tremendous amount. I was astonished that the students raised that much money,” Partsch said.

The ninth graders raised $261.81, putting them in last place.  The seventh graders donated $453.81, and with a great comeback, the eighth graders raised a total of $766.06, more than the seventh and eighth graders combined.

On Dec. 3 ninth graders weren’t able to donate money.  The donation jar was forgotten that day.

“It was just an accident.  If they were close, we would have made a consolation, but they weren’t even close (to winning),” Plummer said.

“I don’t think it was fair because even though the seventh and eighth graders were ahead didn’t mean the ninth graders couldn’t catch up, and some students might have wanted to donate that day,”  said Prough.

“I felt bad for the ninth graders because their fundraising opportunity were less by a day,” Partsch said.

However, more money possibly could have been raised.

“(I) think some students don’t have the extra money to give, especially at the holidays,” Partsch said.

Plummer agrees.  “I would say that maybe some kids don’t know the needs of others or maybe they don’t have any extra money.”

Since the eighth graders won the contest, they got to get out of class to watch the reward movie.

“(Instead of a reward movie), they could have done a day when you could get out of class and play games in the gym, and also talk since you can’t talk in the movie,”  Prough said.

Partsch disagrees.  “I don’t know of a better incentive than to let the students get out of class and watch a movie.”

Sharing for the holiday raised a lot of money and “It’s all for a good cause, it’s helping others,”  Prough said.