A group of 15 teachers from Swansboro High School had a pleasant surprise this year for Thanksgiving. The day before Thanksgiving, they claimed $200,000 from their winning November 7 Powerball ticket.

The winners are from Jacksonville, Swansboro, Maysville, Stella, Hubert, and Cape Carteret.

Albert Zima of Jacksonville organized the Powerball pool and buys the tickets for the group. He says he originally thought they'd only won $100 because he'd written one of the winning numbers down incorrectly. When he took the ticket to be scanned, he learned that they'd actually matched all five white balls and the ticket was worth $200,000.

The group says they enjoy playing the lottery because it supports education in the state.

Zima purchased the winning ticket, worth $136,000 after taxes, at Wilco on Richlands Highway in Jacksonville. Each player received more than $9,000 after taxes.

Among the plans for the winnings are Christmas shopping, sharing the money with family, and putting the money in savings.

This is not the first time the group has won big playing Powerball. They won $10,000 in the January 10 Powerball drawing.