Crescent City Grade School is the proud owner of a new book vending machine to be used as part of its student reward and reading programs. According to Julie Dunn, CCGS librarian, she believes this is the first machine of its kind in an Iroquois County school. A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place in the school lobby last Friday, Nov. 1.
The path to obtaining the machine seemed like a long one, but with the help and support of several local businessmen and women, the process went fairly quickly.
It all began when Heather Gerth, Director of Student Services and the fifth grade teacher at CCGS, saw one at a school where she attended a conference. She just knew this type of machine would be most welcome at CCGS. With the support of Unit District #249 superintendent/principal Lucas Schroeder , Steve Massey, president of Unit District #249 Board of Education, and Ms. Dunn, the ball got rolling.
Darcey Smith, president of Crescent-Iroquois Booster Club, assisted Ms. Dunn with the grant-writing process. When all the grants were written and submitted, it was soon learned the book vending machine would become a reality for CCGS.
Ms. Dunn spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Present were: Schroeder, Massey, Smith; Kerry Bell and Felice Waters of First Trust and Savings Bank, Watseka, representing the Mary Helen Roberts Trust; Joe Lyznicki of First Financial, representing the Donovan Trust; Ashley Ward and Nikki Tobenski of the Watseka Chamber of Commerce (who lent scissors for the ceremony), and Darrin and Julie Fischer, representing the Miner Charitable Trust. Special mention was given to John Carter, school custodian; Rachel Pueschell, school manager, and Tori Legan, district manager, for all their help in getting the machine designed, ordered and set up. Ms. Dunn thanked those who took part in the September Walk-A-Thon as some of the funds raised in that event were used in securing the machine and books, and she acknowledged the decorations for the event were done by Brittany Good, Fisher, and Jordyn Anderson, St. Joe, of JB Happy Days.
In attendance were all K-5 students so Ms. Dunn explained how students can earn tokens to be used for books from the vending machine: Each teacher at CCGS has already received a gold bag of tokens. Teachers can use their discretion in handing out the coins: for good behavior, being named student of the month, for doing something exceptional and/or unexpected (such as helping out a fellow student), being a top reader in the Hawks Reading Challenge, showing good citizenship – the ways to earn a token are many. Each token is worth one book – and there are a variety of books in the vending machine. Each book comes with an ownership tag inside so students can write their names.
The first students to use their tokens in the vending machine were students of the month. Charlotte Cox, a third-grader who was one of the students of the month for September, was the first student to use the machine. Leila Pierce, a kindergarten, was next as she was the other student of the month for September. Students of the month for October were Ryder Mathews and Evangeline Milk, but Milk was absent the day of the ribbon-cutting, so Ryder then got to select his book.
Next to use the vending machine were the top readers for the first nine weeks of the Hawks Reading Challenge: Max Mohler, Colton Carter, Jackson Mohler, Quentin Bull, Carter Robinson and Kaleb Hendershot. Students recognized by Mr. Schroeder for their citizenship also received and used tokens: Ava Grabow, Elizabeth Cahoe, Henry Bull and Henry Schunke.
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