By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Students and teachers throughout Shelby County recently helped to raise a total of $165,000 through a coupon book fundraiser sponsored by the Greater Shelby County Education Foundation.

By selling the coupon books, students and teachers raised about $124,000 for Shelby County schools and raised $42,000 for the Education Foundation’s teacher mini-grant program. Through the mini-grant program, teachers are able to submit applications to secure funding for projects and programs.

After tallying the fundraiser totals, the foundation honored the top-selling students, teachers and fundraiser coordinators.

The top-selling students were Keeley Pownall of Chelsea High School, Taylor Paugh of Oak Mountain Intermediate, Russell Autry of Oak Mountain Middle, Jaylen Cook of Riverchase Middle, Kennedy Hastie of Inverness Elementary, Kobe Cunningham of Riverchase Middle, Cylie Jones of Helena Intermediate, Cameron Jones of Helena Middle, Abigail Snyder of Calera Elementary, Kayla Haney of Meadow View Elementary, Kayla Lazrak of Riverchase Middle and William Stacey of Helena Elementary.

The top-selling teachers were Aquila Malpass of Oak Mountain Intermediate, Angie Jarrell of Helena Intermediate, James Brown of Helena Middle, Tara Ellis of Calera Elementary, Sara Stainback of Helena Elementary, Heather Posey of Helena Elementary and Deborah Dickerson of Oak Mountain Intermediate.

Top-selling fundraising fundraising coordinators were Flo Dassau of Helena Elementary, Tonya Dudson of Oak Mountain Intermediate, Tina Allen of Calera Elementary, Tracy Whitfield of Mt Laurel Elementary, Melissa Dunaway of Helena Intermediate and Lisa Carden of Shelby Elementary.