The Penny War By Zack Whalen and Stephen Rehagen   Every year, students of Helias High School celebrate Homecoming week, the most exciting week of the year for a high school student. Many of the students’ favorite activity is the Penny War, which is a project of the Helias student council. This year, the money earned was donated to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organizations.  During the three lunch periods, four buckets, one for each grade, are displayed. Students placed coins in their class’s buckets to increase their grade’s total of money. They also put dollars in the buckets of the rival grades to decrease that grade’s total. This process leads to a big rivalry among the four grades.  Helias campus minister and teacher Christina Bockwinkel-Baker stated, “I thought it was cool that the classes were almost at war with each other. I thought it was amazing how much money they brought in.” The results of the penny war are announced to the high school students, during the homecoming assembly on the Friday of homecoming week. This year, the seniors won the Penny War, with freshmen close behind, and juniors and sophomores finishing third and fourth. Each grade, no matter how well they finished, was still proud to raise money for a charitable cause. This Helias homecoming tradition is definitely a great way to raise money and augment school spirit. Mrs. Bockwinkel-Baker put it best when she said, “Penny wars have been a long tradition and have been here since I was a student here—twenty years ago.”  Hopefully the penny wars and the spirit they bring will never end.