For the past seven years, Principal Bill Reese has walked the halls of Thomson High School before, during and after school picking up spare change off the floor that students and teachers have dropped. With so much spare change collected, Mr. Reese has managed to bank nine and a half coffee mugs full of pennies, dimes, nickels and a few quarters. There is so much money that is saved in these cups that Mr. Reese has no idea how much money he has collected over the years.
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Mr. Reese displays part of his change collection.
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"I plan to count it up and give it to charities. I'm not sure which one, but I thought about the school's March of Dimes money drive here at school," Mr. Reese said.
He got started by picking up only dimes and quarters and realized that it began to add up. He then started to pick up pennies and soon they began to add up also. He didn't want to take the money he had found and had no where to put it, so he just started putting it away in his coffee mugs.
Just how much money could be in those nine coffee mugs? Mr. Reese has said all along that when he retires he will count the change in the mugs. Well, with Mr. Reese's retirement only a few months away, everyone is anxious to know how much money has been collected throughout the years.
In anticipation of this moment, The Bulldog Bark will hold a "Change Contest" for students. Students who would like to guess how much money Mr. Reese has in total from all nine coffee mugs, can submit their entry in writing to Mrs. Newton in the media center.
All entries must have the student's name, homeroom and the guess for the amount of money in Mr. Reese's mugs. Deadline for entries is April 16. There is only to be one entry per person. The person who guesses the closest to the actual amount without going over will win a Wal-Mart gift card.
