MS Bottle Battle Nets Serious “Coin” for Japan Relief Efforts

[FULL STORY]

Newman Middle Schoolers recently completed a fun and exciting competition to raise funds to help the relief efforts in Japan. Dubbed the Bottle Battle for Japan, the middle school students in in each grade competed with the other grades to raise money for the effort. But this was no ordinary competition. A series of quirky rules made the competition fierce and fun.

Students could put coins in any of three clear jugs outside the Middle School Office (one for each grade). Coins scored points, while bills took points away. So if a student in the 6th grade put a dollar bill in the 7th and 8th grade jugs, those grades would have to put a dollar’s worth of coins in to break even. The competition quickly heated up as the jugs quickly filled up. After a backbreaking trip to a bank full of bemused tellers, here is how the teams scored:

• The 7th grade had $81.40 in coins (+8,140 pts.) and $203.00 in bills (-20,300 pts.) for a total of   -12,160 points.
• The 8th grade had $133.01 in coins (+13,301 pts.) and $161.00 in bills (-16,100 pts.) for a total of -2,799 points.
• The 6th grade had a whopping $572.19 in coins (+57,219 pts.) and an impressive $263.00 (-26,300 pts.) in bills for an amazing total of 30,919 points.

The 6th grade students were the clear winners of the competition, and they got to enjoy a dress down day. But the true winners are the charities helping the Japanese tsunami victims, which will now receive a $1,413.60 donation from Newman. What a great way to use healthy competition to help out a deserving cause!