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MONTICELLO -- The hair from the head of Monticello High School's vice principal became a sign of victory and pride for the school's student body.
In a head to head contest between students and staff, Vice Principal Sheryl Soderstrom agreed to sacrifice the hair if the students could collect more pennies than the faculty in a one-month period.
The students won and Soderstrom had her head shaved Tuesday.The contest arose from a math project by teacher Kara Boyd, who wanted to help students comprehend the volume of one million by having them collect one million pennies.
But when the community's 50-year-old swimming pool failed and was slated for demolition, a group of elementary school staff joined the high school in suggesting that most of the pennies be donated to help build a new city pool.
According to the San Juan School District, county and state officials pledged monetary support of up to $1.9 million for a new city pool.
The city is within one million quarters of having a fully funded facility.
Demolition of the pool also starts Tuesday.
