Pennies program helps students learn to save, share

A professional book study among eight educators at Prairie Star Elementary has inspired a schoolwide initiative to help build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The best-selling book “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time,” by Greg Mortnenson was the book of choice for several teachers at the school this summer.

Now students at the Leawood school are participating in “Pennies for Peace,” a program born out of the book’s success. Teachers have integrated the book into lessons related to character, perseverance and friendship.

Teachers hope that by completing the penny-collecting, service-learning project, lessons about character, perseverance and integrity will be reinforced, said Wendy Hardy, library media service teacher and project coordinator.

“The more connections we can give young people, the greater their learning is,” Hardy said.

“Three Cups of Tea” tells the story of Mortenson, who tried to climb the world’s second highest mountain, located in Pakistan. He got lost in the middle of his dangerous climb, and ended up in a remote village, where he was welcomed by complete strangers.

Their hospitality inspired him to help the children in the community by building a school. At the time, students were gathering outside for school and members of the community were struggling to pay the teacher.

Young children in the United States collected pennies to help with Mortenson’s efforts to build the school. The penny collections spread, and now nearly 80 schools have been constructed.

Students at Prairie Star are reading “Listen to the Wind,” a children’s book version of Mortenson’s story, in reading groups this year and are collecting pennies to help build more schools.

“There are layers for the project,” Principal Amy Farthing said. “It is more about the building of people, how you grow compassion for others, celebrating differences and using your community to do that.”

The project kicked off this fall with help from a Prairie Star parent, David Schultz, Leawood, who shared his own experience in mountain climbing. Schultz’s most recent expedition was a climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Schultz explained to students that the mountain is about as tall as 500 elementary school buildings stacked on top of each other. Such a climb parallels how difficult it can be to build a school in remote areas of the world, he said. 

“I hope my speech helped the children get a feel for what it is like to climb a mountain, build a school or reach any goal to which they put their hearts and minds,” Schultz said in an e-mail.

Schultz also explained that mountain climbing, like collecting pennies to build a school, takes teamwork.

First-grader Jackson Hagen said he knows 1 cent cannot buy a lot on its own. But, many together might make a difference, he said.

“We are all helping to make schools,” Jackson said.

Second-grader Lexi Barash held a lemonade stand and turned the profits into Pennies for Peace.

With friends, fourth-grader Jamie Harrington made Pennies for Peace signs to post in her neighborhood. Much to her surprise, simply telling a neighbor about her school’s project prompted a recent donation.

“She brought out 122 pennies,” Jamie said. “I thought it would be 10 or 12 pennies. … (It’s important) because not everyone gets to have a good education. This might be our only chance to help out kids in Afghanistan so they won’t have to walk a long ways to school.”

Third-grader Patryk Hernandez said he thinks other students should have the same benefits he does.

“We get to go to school, we get to have lunch and all of that,” Patryk said. “It is a great thing for the poor and I think they will be very happy.”

The penny collecting will conclude at the end of the semester in December. No fundraising goal has been set, only educational goals of teaching students that everyone can make a difference, Hardy said.

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