Eighth Grader Is Tops With Pop-Tops

By Laurie Borst

For a number of years now, schools, offices, and organizations have been collecting pop-tops, those rings that open soda cans. The pop-tops are donated to Shriner’s Hospital.

The Interact Club handles the collecting of the tops at Newtown Middle School. Interact just got a huge boost in the amount of tops collected so far. Eighth grader Janis Hubina just brought in approximately 56 pounds of pop-tops, the amount usually collected by the entire school in two years, said Interact advisor Sue Connelly.

There are pop-top containers throughout the school: in each cluster, the cafeteria, and the teachers’ lounge. How did Janis manage to collect so many?

“My family, especially my mom, drinks lots of soda and juice,” Janis reported. “Also, my dad’s friend has a weekly poker night and they save all the tops for me.”

Just five months ago, she had made a similar donation to Shriner’s.

On a monthly basis, the Interact members assess the amount of pop-tops amassed in each classroom. The top seventh and eighth grade classes each receive a stuffed penguin that resides in the classroom for the month.

The seventh grade’s mascot is named Pop, and the eighth’s is called Top. Pop and Top travel to whichever classes have the most tops for that month.