The Idaho Lottery recently wrapped up its 19th edition of Scratch for Schools. What began as a pilot project at the Boise Towne Square in October 2001 with twenty schools is now a full-fledged annual tradition among the 400+ schools who participate each fall. To date, over $1.3 million has been returned to individual schools in Idaho for classroom needs through this program.
Since beginning the program, there have been 149 events. Wendy Jewett from Camas Schools in Fairfield remembers when the first event of Scratch for Schools was ever held at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. “I’ve been coming since the very first time you held it here. We were in a small room in the union building, and there were maybe 20 schools.”
True indeed, Wendy. March 3, 2005 was the first time the Idaho Lottery visited Twin Falls and campus of the College of Southern Idaho. There were 22 schools who won a total of $3,067 that day. By comparison, the 2019 edition had 64 schools, it was held across the entire CSI Rec Center Gymnasium with schools claiming $13,520. Times have changed.
The first time the event was ever held in Lewiston was at Lewis-Clark State College. It was in early May 2004 and there were only 15 schools. Not too surprisingly, there are folks from that year who attended this year, where 37 schools won $7,658. Perhaps the biggest growth has occurred in Pocatello. Robin Claunch of Arbon Elementary has been coming to Scratch for Schools since the event hosted 8 schools in a tiny conference room of the Idaho State University Pond Student Union on March 17, 2005 and the participants claimed a total of $951. This year, Robin and her colleagues from Arbon participated with 54 schools, the third most ever. They won a total of about $11,493.
And while Scratch for Schools has brought communities together for the good cause it supports, there’s always one question that lingers on everyone’s mind - who’s the fastest scratching school in Idaho? This year’s competition was fierce. At the Nampa event on October 7, Juniper Hills - Nampa put up the mark to beat, 220 tickets in the final five minutes. Their record lasted just over one day as the very next afternoon, John Rehder and his team from Prairie High School in Cottonwood scratched an amazing 280 tickets during an intense final heat to claim the top spot. But like all records, they are made to be broken. Prairie’s record looked invincible until the very last round on the very last day on the far side of the Rec Center courts at CSI where Twin Falls High School’s Wrestling Team coaches did what 425 other schools had not; they inched past Prairie, scratching 283 tickets in the final five minutes to claim this year’s State record.
Competition aside, there are only winners from Scratch for Schools - Idaho’s classrooms. This year about $90,000 was added to the long-standing total of winners for this program. And while it may be the fastest five minute fundraiser in Idaho, the real records are the success this extra funding brings to Idaho’s public schools.
