NESQUEHONING, Pa. — Panther Valley Elementary School in Nesquehoning is cutting the ribbon on a new way to get students excited about reading.
"We are working very diligently to increase the proficiency of our students in reading, and this was the perfect tie-in," said Panther Valley Elementary Principal Robert Palazzo
Palazzo is talking about the new book vending machine. Each space in the machine is filled with books of all kinds.
The covers quickly caught the eyes of the first group of students to use the new machine.
"I got the book 'Lucky Necklace' because I never heard of it, and it sounded like a good story," said third grader Kambry Koerbler.
"I chose this because there's a lot of different ones, and I like them," said third grader Korbin Barbeau.
Matrix Behavior Solutions donated the vending machine to the district to put books in the hands of students.
"Reading is a skill that keeps giving your entire life. Think about it. Everything you've ever learned, a lot of it comes from reading books," said Wick Khan, CEO of Matrix Behavior Solutions.
"About ten years ago, the library position, across all three schools, like many schools, was cut, so this gives them the opportunity to get a book and keep the book," Palazzo said.
These books aren't bought; they're earned. Palazzo says there are a few ways students can earn a token to the book vending machine.
"Each teacher will have three tokens per month, and they can choose to reward students for demonstrating excellent reading behavior or just general behavior, something that stands out."
All of the books in the vending machine were donated by other community organizations.