When three sisters at Skyline High School set out to raise awareness about children soldiers in Uganda, they didn’t dream that they’d raise $4,600 in a week.

Over half that money was collected in about 5 minutes from two morning change drives, which had Katie, Haley and Emily Mincin counting coins for several days. They hadn’t expected to raise more than $1,500.

“We went into the week, and a lot of people didn’t think we were going to be able to pull it off,” said Katie, a senior. “In the end, when we came out with the results we did, we realized we wouldn’t have done it any differently.”

The Mincin sisters organized the Invisible Children drive, called Skyline Sees You, as a part of DECA, a student business club.

The girls plastered the walls with an overabundance of hand-painted posters and others helped hang colorful paper chains across the cafeteria mezzanine.

Although the school has an established DECA program, it has been a few years since students organized such a visible program, Katie said. “Our goal was to do something this year to establish DECA.”

A successful fundraiser will also increase their chances of going to the DECA state competition.

However, for the girls the fundraiser was about teaching classmates about the challenges kids face in Uganda.

The Invisible Children, a non-profit that rescues and prevents kids from becoming soldiers, gave a presentation at their school, but the students still didn’t know much about this issue.

Before the campaign started, they gave a test to 260 students about children soldiers, and their average score was 30 percent. After the campaign, it was 93 percent.

Motivated by a trip to South Africa this summer, the Mincin sisters wanted to do something to help.

“I just think it’s important to help your community, but it’s also important to help other people in need,” said Haley, a sophomore.

So the girls organized a week-long campaign, sold 150 T-shirts and organized a staff versus students soccer game.

Known as the three sisters who play lacrosse, it was the first time the girls came together off the field.

“There has definitely been some fighting, I’m not going to lie,” Katie said with a laugh. “There were times where we really had to learn how to compromise with each other.”

All of the money will go specifically toward a new Schools for Schools program, which helps provide education for Ugandan children at risk of being captured by the military.

Celeste Gracey can be reached at 425-391-0363, ext. 5052.