Ypsilanti Community Schools (YCS) students can win tokens to "purchase" free reading materials from 10 new book vending machines located in the district's schools.

Jerilyn Lynn, educational technology specialist for YCS, oversees all the media centers in the district. She had the idea for the vending machines and was able to fund it through a national Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant (sometimes referred to as a Literacy Excellence Accelerates Performance, or LEAP, grant). 

Sarah RiggA book vending machine at Ypsilanti Community High School.
She and YCS Media Specialist Dwayne Scott have placed vending machines at each YCS school except Achieving College and Career Education, since most students there attend virtually, Lynn says. The district celebrated with an unveiling ceremony Dec. 11.

Students can purchase books from the vending machines with tokens that they earn for achieving reading goals, good behavior, birthday gifts, and more. Lynn says each school can decide on goals that will result in a book token. Lynn says the students track how many minutes they read with an app called Beanstalk, and they can win tokens that way, as well.

Sarah RiggA token to use at a book vending machine.
Ypsilanti Community Middle School now has two vending machines, and Ypsilanti Community High School just received a second machine, which will be installed soon. Scott says he'd like to see the final machine placed near the high school entrance so that the general public can see and interact with the machine as well.

Scott, who also coaches girls' basketball, says he can also just give students a book himself in exchange for their tokens, but students prefer the machines.

"It's probably one of the best ideas that anybody ever came up with, because kids love the idea of a vending machine," Scott says. "It gives them a sense of independence and choice, just like when they get to choose a Coke or a Pepsi."

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She joined Concentrate as a news writer in early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to other Issue Media Group publications. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com.

Photos by Sarah Rigg.