Logan students learn every penny counts

LOGAN — A layer of pennies covers the bottom of a large clear box meant to hold up to 6,000 pounds of coppers.

A few nickels, errant dimes and the occasional quarter or two glint through the orange layer. A step ladder reaches toward a yellow funnel that juts above the box; the funnel sends coins in a downward spiral to clink on their neighbors.

The coins are the beginning of a second round of fund raising for River Heights Elementary. The penny box, as students and teachers call it, is a front hall landmark for this school that put itself on the globe by raising $10,000 in small coins to fund a school and teaching for students in Zambia, Africa.

Friday, approximately 500 children at the school met a 25-year-old Zambian university student, Musoka Kazenene, who brought slides and stories about her country.

"You guys just get in your fridge and get your food," she said while showing pictures of cassava and millet. "It's hard to get your food there."

The field of small heads murmured wonderment at the picture of a giant mushroom. They asked how an axe was constructed (liquid metal was poured into a sand mould, pounded into shape, cooled, and then tied to a stripped tree branch) and what life expectancy was (35 years).

Kazenene, who is training to be a social worker, made an impression on the students.

"I liked how the Zambia person came and talked about how she was poor and how she thought she wasn't poor, but then she came here and saw that she was," said Trent Larsen, 10.

"It feels cool that we're giving them all these pennies and schools and stuff," said Tanner Williamson, 11. "Since we're giving them a teacher, he can teach other adults and kids to be teachers, so they can be educated."

Kazenene served as motivation for continuing the penny collection that took seven years to swell to 1 million coins.

"It made me want to get more schools there and help everyone out so they can learn and have fun doing it," Larsen said.

About 20 students selected the Zambian Scholarship Fund to receive the $10,000. The Logan-based non-profit sponsors high school and college teaching students and schools, said founder Peggy Rogers. She wants to ship 20 pallets of books to Zambia at a cost of $20,000 and is soliciting donations through Bank of Utah for the project.

The penny box will be a fixture at the school for many years, said Principal Vesna Jenkins.

"We moved it when we got new carpet, and we had teachers and parents calling to say, 'put it back,' " said Jenkins, who paused conversation for a student who wanted to donate her dresses and sweets to Zambian students. "It's phenomenal to think about what one penny can teach kids. It's overwhelming."

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com