Rating:

4.0 (4 votes)

Mount Ellis Academy Principal Darren Wilkins and his staff are still glowing after voting closed last Friday on a Facebook contest sponsored by Kohl's Department Stores.

The small Seventh Day Adventist Christian School on the outskirts of Bozeman received enough votes in the online poll to be one of 20 schools that are set to receive $500,000 from the store.

"It was an incredible experience," Wilkins said. "It was far from a sure thing even going down to the last day."

The Kohl's Cares contest featured schools from around the nation.

"In celebration of Kohl's Cares® 10th anniversary, we're donating $500,000 to 20 schools each for a total of $10 million. Voting Ends Sept. 3rd, 2010," reads the Facebook site.

Mount Ellis quickly moved into the top 100 schools, than was voted into the top 30. During the last week though, it became more uncertain whether the academy would crack the top 20.

"The moods would actually change as the votes went up or down," said Senior Liz Gustufson.

With just days left the school sat unmoving at number 23. On the last day of voting, Mount Ellis started at number 17, yet other schools were quickly challenging that position.

"We're a Christian school, we prayed about this," said Wilkins. "We talked about being willing to take whatever comes and being happy with the results win or lose."

As Friday progressed, the school saw a surge in votes. These votes were not only coming from the Bozeman area, but from across the nation.

"It was crazy when on the last day votes were coming in every couple of seconds. It was interesting that so many people cared about our school," said Senior Wade Wilson.

Mount Ellis ended the contest in 10th place, receiving over 144,000 votes.

"We felt blessed to have the Bozeman community rise up and support us and people from all over the country," Wilkins said.

Kohl's has not made a final announcement of the winners. Contest organizers are checking the validity of votes. Wilkins expects the annoucement sometime before the end of September.

Mount Ellis Academy will use the funds to replace the school's septic system, which dates back to the 1950s.