Story last updated at 1:44 a.m. Thursday, July 29, 2004

A million pennies for your thoughts
By Jennifer Wilson
Morris News Service

DUMAS, Texas -- Ever wondered what a million pennies look like?

Those at Dumas Junior High School found out.

Students there collected more than 1 million pennies - $10,000 - for Amarillo College scholarships.

That's a lot of pennies. Stack them and they'd be four times the height of a World Trade Center tower, assistant tennis coach Ben Allison said. Line them up and they would stretch 12 miles. Weigh them and they would tip the scales at 6,250 pounds, or more than three tons.

Dumas teachers had been keeping the pennies in 55-gallon barrels, but Wednesday morning they dumped them onto the gym floor for the students to admire.

"Just like any time in life, you work hard and you reap the benefits," Principal Mark Stroebel told them. "I just wanted to tell you especially that I appreciate the job you've done."

The project started in December, Allison said. Educators devised different ways to raise the money, including intramural sports games and competition among the school's several "teams" of students.

The matchup of boys versus girls became competitive, he said.

By the end, students had surpassed 1 million pennies, Allison said. The total Wednesday morning was 1,015,480.

Student Katie Stone was impressed.

"It's the best, man," Stone said.

When she goes to AC one day, this will help pay for her college, she said.

Jennifer Benavides said that even if she doesn't go to AC, she is glad that the project could help someone else.

"It was really fun," she said.

The money goes to the Dumas Education Foundation, a nonprofit group that gives out funds and scholarships to local educators and students. The foundation will use this $10,000 for the Quality Education for Students program, or QUEST, said Shawn Frische, foundation president.

The program pays for a student's two years at AC's Moore County Campus in Dumas, she said.