By Karin Williams, Special to the Phoenix

PHOENIXVILLE – How much would you pay to watch your teacher kiss a cow?
So far, the students at the Center For Arts and Technology-Pickering Campus (CAT-Pickering) have paid almost $900 for the chance to see their favorite teacher lock lips with Buttercup, a cow who resides in the school’s Animal Science Center. All proceeds will support Relay For Life of Phoenixville scheduled to begin on May 2 at 6 p.m. on the Phoenixville Area School District’s Washington Field.
Buttercup, a purebred Polled Hereford just under a year old, is being raised at the Animal Science Center as part of student Brooke Himes’s 4-H project.
Miss Himes and fellow Animal Science student Christine Custer put their heads together to brainstorm fundraising ideas for their 2008 CAT-Pickering Relay For Life Team, of which they are co-captains.
What they came up with was a “corny” idea that took on a mind of its own, Miss Custer said.
“We were trying to think of fundraising ideas and we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if one of the teachers kissed a cow?’” Miss Himes said.
And so the Kiss-A-Cow project began.
The girls approached their Animal Science teacher, Stephen Fecick, with the idea. From there, they went to Principal Debbie Noel, who gave the final go ahead.
“It’s really increased school spirit with both the kids and the faculty,” said Mr. Fecick. “There’s been a lot of trash talking!”
Each day at lunch, the students place money in jars beneath photos of teachers who are puckered up and ready to smooch! The teacher with the most money on Friday, May 2, will be the lucky winner. The entire school will be dismissed at 2 p.m. to the Animal Science barn, where the teacher will plant a big smack on Buttercup’s lips.
Did the girls expect to raise so much money?
“Everyone really got into it. It’s a little surprising, but we’re happy it’s going as good as it is,” said Miss Custer.
In fact, there is a lot of good-natured ribbing going on, and e-mail challenges between the faculty are circulating. And Buttercup herself is enjoying a bit of fame. A tee-shirt bearing her image, painted with a gigantic set of red lips, will be worn by the members of the faculty who are participating.
When the girls approached Mrs. Noel with their idea, Mrs. Noel said they could probably raise about $500. Thrilled, that’s where they set their goal.
Now, as they near $1,000, the girls are a little speechless.
"It’s just… Wow!” Miss Custer said.