Bataan Elementary and Intermediate Schools recently participated in a Penny Challenge to benefit Joyful Connections in Oak Harbor. The challenge took place over an eight-day period and the children collected over $900. An intense but friendly competition took place between the classes in both the Primary and Intermediate Schools. In the Intermediate School, Melissa Frisch’s fourth grade class took first place with 5,424 points. In the Primary School, Britta Luebcke’s second grade class won with 8,311 points and Amy Mizener’s first grade class was a very close second with 8,276. Because both classes were so close, Joyful Connections declared them both winners!

Sheila Powell, Executive Director and Shanna Strouse, Assistant Director for Joyful Connections presented each winning teacher with a monetary prize donation to purchase Indoor recess supplies for their classrooms. The children learned about helping others in their community and they all worked very hard to raise money for Joyful Connections.

Joyful Connections is a local non-profit that provides opportunities for children to stay connected with their parents and/or family members. Keeping the parent-child relationship intact is vital to the child’s emotional and physical well-being. Joyful Connections also provides supervised exchanges which allow separated or divorced parents a safe and neutral environment where they can exchange their children to help prevent the children from being exposed to parental disputes.

Teacher Amy Mizener’s first grade class at Bataan Elementary School