Buying a book takes twist at Queen Creek’s Desert Mountain Elementary

Students at Desert Mountain Elementary have a book vending machine thanks to a program that allows them to have a say in the school’s budget.

Last year, DME students in the Lead Out Loud Club voted to use their participatory budget to offer fellow students a book vending machine for their campus. The student body gave the idea a thumbs up.

Through participatory budgeting, students learn civic responsibility and how to think beyond themselves.

“The cool thing about the student participatory budgeting process is that our students came up with all the ideas for all the rest of our Coyotes to vote on, and then the students ultimately decide,” DME Principal Amber Allen stated in a Queen Creek Unified School District press release.

The Lead out Loud Club lets students have an active voice in their school, while seeing the direct impact of their votes.

By bringing a book vending machine to DME, students got to exercise civic duty and install an new reward system. Students earn “Paw Points” for showing the three core values of DME: “being kind, respectful and showing integrity.” Paw points can then be redeemed for a token that can be used for the book vending machine, the release continued.

“What’s awesome about the student participatory budgeting process is our students get to use their voice to decide how to make our school even better,” Allen stated.