In the 2022-2023 school year, staff from Crutchfield and Dillingham Elementary Schools applied for a grant from the Sherman Education Foundation (SEF) to receive a book vending machine for their campus. The goal is to not only promote reading, but to incentivize positive behavior and growth in students. Both grants were funded by SEF in the spring and both campuses recently introduced the vending machines.
Kallie Wilson, a counselor at Crutchfield, wrote the vending machine grant for her campus. Leslie Rich, a counselor at Dillingham, wrote their grant.
Each campus held a brief ceremony where their Student Ambassadors (nominated each month in alignment with our new character education program, The Bearcat Way) were the first to receive a book from the machine. These books are for the students to keep.
“At first the students thought maybe it was a snack machine and when they realized it was books, they were more excited!” Wilson said. “It’s super cool to see them get so excited about books.”
Knight Furniture has donated money to Crutchfield to keep the vending machine stocked with books. Owner Joel Gunn was part of the big reveal on campus, and said being part of this project was an easy decision.
“I see the joy that my sons have when they come home having accomplished something and they have something tangible to show for it,” Gunn said. “To be able to be part of that I think is a really cool opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.”
Luis Reyes Hernandez is a fifth grader at Dillingham and was selected as Dillingham’s Student Ambassador for the month of August based on The Bearcat Way trait respect. He says his favorite books are graphic novels and was excited to get to choose one from the vending machine.
“They already were talking about getting the vending machine last year, and I’ve been thinking about it since then,” Hernandez said. “It feels good to be one of the first ones to get a book!”
Every year, SEF gets dozens of grant applications from teachers and staff for innovative ideas to bring to their campuses. Edwin Clark, SEF trustee, says supporting the teachers in their out-of-the-box requests is the best part of what they do.
“This is such an innovative, cool idea to reward students for their academic achievements, their character achievements, any type of progress they’re having on campus,” Clark said. “Just to get more books into their hands without them having to pay for them, seeing their faces light up just for the book, to see that imagination, to see the development that takes place it’s indescribable.”
“Our kiddos love reading and they love learning to read,” said Steven Traw, Dillingham Elementary principal. “We also want to reward our students who follow The Bearcat Way traits, maintain good grades, as well as students that are showing good behavior growth.”
