Pennies by the hundreds mark 100th day of school

Students count pennies from a recent penny drive. --Submitted photos

The students, parents and staff of Bryan School along with community organizations, private donors and other friends of Bryan Elementary School collected pennies in observance of the 100th day of school on Feb. 3.

Some organizations and individuals have been collecting pennies since last year's 100th day celebration. The students collected $701.19 this year during the week in which the 100th day of school was celebrated.

A total of $6,594 will be shared between the kindergarten and first grade scholarships as a result of the children's collections and the generous help of the community.

All pennies collected each day were counted and sorted by the kindergarten and first grade students. At the end of each day, the pennies were taken to the Metz bank to be counted and deposited into the Bryan School Lucille Smith Scholarship Fund. The late Lucille Smith was the school secretary when the scholarship project was established.

Members of the class of 2020 and 2021 pose at Bryan Elementary, looking ahead toward their graduation. --submitted photo

This year's kindergarten class will add to their scholarship fund as first graders during next year's 100th day celebration. Scholarships will be awarded through the Nevada R-5 Scholarship Foundation and will earn interest until the students are high school seniors in the years 2020 and 2021. All students who were members of the Bryan School classes at the time the pennies were collected will be eligible to apply for the scholarships.

This is the 13th year that pennies have been collected at Bryan for the scholarships during the 100th day celebration. The first two scholarships were awarded last year to a 2008 senior boy and girl and will continue to be awarded each year.