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Pawnee Heights schools compete in pop tab contest
new deh pawnee heights pop tab boxes pic
The small box has served to hold pop-tabs brought in early in the week, and where stringing strands are growing. The back box was filled last Friday afternoon. - photo by COURTESY PHOTO

ROZEL – Last year the Pawnee Heights High School National Honor Society had their first “pop tab” collection to raise pop tabs for a contest they had entered which benefited the Ronald McDonald House in Wichita. They raised quite a few, but this year when they were again invited to enter the state-wide contest, sponsor Lee Durler decided there really wasn’t any reason to enter that contest, because in reality PHS is a very small school, but that they should still have a contest of their own, with proceeds still going to Wichita.
The week-long contest ended Friday, Feb. 8.  Durler said the competition was pretty fierce, with pizza for lunch a week later on the line.  In the kindergarten through sixth-grade division, the second grade brought in 9.03 pounds of pop tabs, followed closely by the fourth, and fifth grades (the fifth graders barely beat the kindergarteners). In the eighth- to 12th-grade division, the eighth graders won, bringing in 6.74 pounds, followed closely by the juniors and the seniors.
There was a total of 39.45 pounds collected, and that – including the three nine-foot chains that decorated the hall before the contest started, ends up being roughly 67 thousand pop tabs. 
The NHS students and a volunteer – Chey Worthey – will keep stringing the tabs and using them for hall decorations. The PHS crowd will enjoy seeing their efforts until the end of February, Durler said. Then they will all find their way to Wichita’s Ronald McDonald House.
So far this year, Durler said the NHS has peeled and stripped Box Tops for Education to fund the library books to the tune of $500.  Their next contest will be the week before spring break where everyone gets to vote for their favorite high school class by casing ballots of food for the local food bank.  It will end with the school musical on March 14, where donations will get you in the door, and you “can” vote for your favorite class, too.