From candy to soft drinks, vending machines have always added flavour, but in recent years they have been helping elementary schools by providing books.
Now thanks to last month’s “SurPrize Patrol” from Friendswood ISD Education, Westwood Elementary is about to become the first campus in the area to receive a book vending machine, and the students are excited.
“There are so many books I really want,” said second grader Robert McCrae. “I think it’s great if you put a chip in the vending machine and you can get a book. It’s a free book.”
When the machine kicks in, students like Robert can deposit a chip or token and pick them up just as if they were a bag of chips, and he’d drop down a book for them to keep.
Just before the holiday break, Westwood-based media integration specialist Elizabeth Henning learned that the foundation would provide $8,488.99 to meet its grant proposal for a book vending machine.
Also part of the more than $46,000 awarded through the foundation’s inauguration Legacy Grant Program It was $23,700 to Friendswood Junior High School robotics teacher PJ Givens’ request to fund a Robotics Vex IQ Classroom and $13,994.65 to Friendswood Junior High School teacher Mandy Harris to start a ceramics program at her school.
Out of 15 entries, the three winners were chosen from a small group of seven.
The Foundation launched the Legacy Program for the 2022-2023 academic year in response to increased demand for grants to fund projects costing more than the $5,000 threshold set by the Adoption Grant Program for the group.
“I was teaching the class and talking to another teacher and we heard this loud noise,” Henning said of the day she heard a drum traveling down the school hall. “We thought it was thunder at first.”
“One of our photoshoot ladies, she was actually in class taking pictures of kids doing things, which I thought was a little unusual,” Henning said. “I’m thinking maybe they’re updating their pics, and then it just clicked with the (drum line) close. Oh my God, that’s for me! It was amazing.”
On a national level, the pandemic has caused reading scores to plummet, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a program administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the US Department of Education and the Institute of Educational Sciences. NCES noted that not a single country has shown significant progress in reading.
Since Westwood students are in Pre-K through 2nd grade, their vending machine will have a selection of large picture books for younger students and chapter books for older adults.
The vending machine supplier, Global Vending Group, takes note on that website One of her machines can hold anywhere from 200 to 300 books. The exterior of Westwood’s vending machine will have a Friendswood-related theme.
Positive personality traits, presence, and strong grades are ways a child can earn a token.
said Henning, who estimates the school has 650 students.
Of the scholarship total, $1,200 will be reserved for restocking the machine with books. The money raised from the school’s annual book fair will also be used to purchase books.
Scholastic Books, which printed its first book in 1926, has a selection of titles that can be used in vending machines.
“They have a bunch of books for the initial vending machine. I think they’ll come out with their own vending machine, but not yet. So we’ll see,” Henning said.
The location where the book vending machine will be located in the school has not been specified.
Milano Portilance, a sophomore with an older sister next door at Palis Middle School, has one word to describe how her brother will feel after Westwood gets a vending machine.
She said, “Jealousy.”
ravery@ghcnonline.com
National Assessment of Educational Progress, CAD Nation Report,