FARMINGTON – For some, it’s the dance. For others, it’s helping fellow students.

Whatever seventh- and eighth-graders’ reasons are to try to gain the most points for bringing in the most pennies, they sure don’t want the staff to win.

Students at Mt. Blue Middle School are dropping silver coins by the handful into the staff’s jug to make them lose points. The kids had put $25 in silver in the jug at one point, teacher Denise Mochamer said Wednesday.

In this penny challenge, the bronze coppers are the coveted point winners.

If silver coins are dropped into a bucket, points are taken away.

On Monday, the first day of the challenge, staff was leading with positive 792 points, but by Wednesday they were in the hole by 3,603 points.

All in all it’s in good fun and they’re raising money for the Student Assistant Team to help students in need. The team is made up of teachers and administrators who identify students who may need help in some manner, Mochamer said.

They’ve helped many students after a tragedy, a fire at their residence or those just needing a little something extra to help them along, she said.

It’s all done anonymously, she said, and many students don’t know who has lent them a hand.

Seventh-graders started chanting Wednesday as classmate Jeff Brann dumped a bag of pennies into their class jug.

“Jeff. Jeff. Jeff,” they chanted.

As he dumped the pennies in, students crowded around him in the back of the cafeteria where three jugs set for staff, eighth grade and the seventh grade on a table.

At the beginning of lunch period, there were more pennies in the eighth-grade jug and lots of silver coins in both the staff and seventh-grade jugs.

By the end of the period, seventh-graders had all the silver covered with copper and dropped silver coins into the eighth-graders and staff jugs.

Whichever jug has the most points at 8 a.m. Friday will win the challenge and gain an hour of social time at the end of the day on Wednesday, Dec. 6.

As of the end of Tuesday, the seventh-graders were ahead with 862 points and the eighth-graders had 402.

“It’s fun to help people, and I like helping people,” seventh-grader Alexaiya Backman of Temple said.

“We want that dance,” her classmate Steven Yardley of Farmington said. And it’s good to help others, he added.

Victoria Corson, another seventh-grader, peered into the class jug.

“It’s for a good cause,” she said.

Parent volunteer Mira Coleman has been coming in every day to count the money. Franklin Savings Bank is also working with the group to help with change counting.

Mochamer said the first thing in the morning the kids hover around the containers by the office as more money is dropped in.

“They get all excited,” she said. “I think it’s a neat fundraiser. They don’t have to go out and sell anything. They just bring in their spare change.”