Get in line: Students at St. Jerome’s School collected thousands of dimes as part of the “Dime Wars — Dimes for Desks Project,” which supports the purchase of desks for students in Africa. Classes place their collected coins on the floor to be measured.
Students from the kindergarten through eighth grade classes of St. Jerome’s School in Holme Circle collected thousands of dimes in February and March as part of the “Dime Wars — Dimes for Desks Project,” which supports the purchase of desks for students of Namunda Primary School in Malawi, Africa, a school built by the generous funding of the Hamels Foundation.
The students at St. Jerome treated it as a competition among homerooms. Classes placed their collected coins on the floor in straight lines then measured the lines. Mr. Gary Stevens’ fifth-grade class was declared the winner with about 133 feet of dimes. That equates to about 2,264 coins or more than $226. Stevens’ students each won a Hamels Foundation T-shirt and autographed photo of Phillies’ pitcher Cole Hamels. The class also won an autographed Hamels poster.
In all, St. Jerome students collected more than 1,000 feet of dimes. The project was both charitable and educational as students employed measurement, mathematical calculations and teamwork.
Last May, St. Jerome School received a $10,000 Partners in Education grant from The Hamels Foundation, allowing the school to establish a state-of-the-art STEM lab. In appreciation, the school seeks to support the foundation’s other projects and educational programs in Philadelphia and Africa. ••
