In the Brown School lobby, students gathered around a brand new book vending machine, wrapped in a big red bow. It was the students themselves who wrote an $8,000 grant to purchase it.
“We saw that the Village School had one, and it looked really good,” said Pender Smith, who graduated from Brown School last year and is now at Village. She came back to Brown for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“It’s slay,” added Eleanor Schubmehl, who is also now at Village.
The students are members (and former members) of Brown School’s Kids Give Back after-school club, led by guidance counselor Kara Elmer and first-grade teacher Rachel Leavitt.
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“We filled it out on the computer,” said student Scarlett Parisi about the Friends of Marblehead Public Schools grant. “It was fun trying to convince them.”
Here’s a brief excerpt from their grant application:
“We would like a book vending machine for Brown School that is not full of junk food, but books. At Brown School we are hungry to learn. We would love more books on sports, chapter books, dogman books, Diary of a Wimpy Books (LW), Black Lagoon, Magic School Bus, Horrid Henry and so much more. We think all kids should have books that they can read so they can learn. If we got a book vending machine, kids could earn tokens to get books for doing good or being a good classmate.”
The nonprofit Friends of Marblehead Schools awarded the grant, and members also attended the ribbon cutting. The Friends are celebrating their 35th year supporting Marblehead students through donations and grants. They’ve given out $2.5 million so far.
The Brown students chose the books to stock the vending machine, including “Baby Sitters Club,” “Narwal,” “National Geographic Kids,” “Press Start” and “Who is Taylor Swift?”
“Some of the books are funny or adventurous,” Parisi said. “And they’re for all different ages.”
Elmer said members of the Kids Give Back Club may write another grant, this time for permanent soccer nets at Brown.
Schubnehl had another idea.
“How about a pool!”
To “buy” a book, students need to earn special tokens.
“They can do that by exemplifying our school values: Be safe, be ready to learn, be brave and be kind,” said Brown School Principal Mary Maxfield.
Speaking to the kids last week, Maxfield shared a quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
“I think she was writing about you,” Maxfield added with a big smile.
Members of the Kids Give Back Club include: Landon Whorf, George Wattendorf, Michael Bane, Hannah Bulger, Eleanor Schubmehl, Pender Smith, Hunter McLaughlin, Scarlett Parisi, Freddie Poss, Elyse Machado, Bowen McCarthy, Cam Harvery, Landon Laskowki, Chapin Crawford, Wyatt Dupler, Tori Clark, Aiden Duffy, Jay Floyd, Louis Lazorchak and Sophia Triscuit.
