NAMPA, ID — Snacks. Drinks. Books? What do these all have in common you might ask? You can now find them all in vending machines!
Iowa Elementary School in Nampa cut the ribbon on its brand-new book vending machine this morning, making them the first school in the district to have one.
Principal Preston Pruett explained, “Each year our student ambassador program tries to find a project to support our school. This year we wanted to do something to develop the reading skills of our students, and so they came up with the idea of having a book vending machine.”
Now, even Rome was not built in a day.
Jennifer Owen-Tillotson, the school’s Family Community Resource Coordinator, told Idaho News 6 that the students had to raise about $7,700 to get the machine purchased and installed.
“They sold beef sticks. They did Panda Express fundraisers. They did pizza fundraisers. They sold chocolate. And at the very end, they were short just a little bit, so they presented to the PTA in an effort to get those funds raised so that we can get our machine purchased,” said Owen-Tillotson.
Principal Pruett explained that the books are accessed using tokens, awarded weekly to exceptional students who are nominated by their teachers.
He also praised the students who worked to get this machine. Pruett says that all of their hard work will be benefiting classes of kids for years to come.
