As part of the station's coverage of Black History Month, NY1 reporters have filed stories on New Yorkers who have been moved to action by the historic election of President Barack Obama. NY1's Cheryl Wills filed the following report on an independent school in Harlem where students are raising money for their own stimulus package, one penny at a time.

Students who attend the Children's Storefront School in Harlem hear the figure one-trillion dollars an awful lot, but few understand its value.
"I heard that it's, like, a lot of money, like such a huge amount of money that it's kinda hard to explain in numbers, but it's very huge," said eighth-grader Marv'a Nixon.
The students said they did not really understand why President Barack Obama needed so much money for a stimulus package. So the school's computer teacher, Steve Bergen, got them involved.
The entire student body was instructed to collect pennies to simulate Obama's efforts to stimulate the economy. And, in a few short weeks, eager students raised 5,000 pennies driving home the trillion-dollar lesson. "I decided if I could give them a visual, something they could look at, and picture, then they would firm in their head exactly what a million, a billion and a trillion looks like," explained Bergen.
Eventually, the students believe they can raise one-billion pennies. They say they're motivated by Obama's leadership in the White House.
"I never really thought that an African American would become president ever in my life," said student Linzell Vaughn, an eighth grader. "And to see that happen, it really showed me that I can do anything."
"Obama said anything is possible and I believe that our school can raise a lot of pennies," said fellow eighth-grader Olivia Thompson.
"I think feeling connected to what he's doing and understanding the issues is really important," said Kathy Egmont, head of school for the Children's Storefront School. "As his presidency goes on and he faces so many difficult things, it's important for our kids to have an understanding of the complexity."
Thanks to the Internet, schools from across the country are collecting pennies to send to the tuition-free school on 129th Street. In the end, the pennies will be cashed in to stimulate the school's budget.
"This penny project we're doing is just an example for the kids to say hey 'I believe that we can do it,'" said Bergen. " The word of the month at Storefront is the word 'Hope.'" As a result, the students believe they, too, can change the world -- one penny at a time.
For more information on the Penny Project, go to cstorefront.org/pennies