MANCHESTER – It may not be as big as the one inside the school, but it serves its purpose of sharing books and knowledge.
During the school district’s winter break, Manchester Township High School student Ella Rajcok was busy finalizing her National Honor Society (NHS) project.
As a Junior, she was required to complete 10 community service hours but went above and beyond that requirement through the building and installation of a Little Free Library at Manchester Township Elementary School.
According to Little Free Library’s website, this is a “take a book, share a book” free book exchange. These libraries come in many shapes and sizes, but the most common version is a small wooden box of books which is what she built for MTES. The concept was developed so that the community can take a book or bring their favorite books to share.
The Little Free Library that she built will be outside the school where her siblings attend. She also personalized it by painting the school’s dragon mascot and using the school colors.
“I came up with the idea to build a little free library because I love to read, and my mom has a little library right outside of our house,” Ella said. “I knew that I wanted to do a service project at some point during my time in NHS and as soon as the idea came to mind, I knew it would be perfect.”
She added, “I loved my time at MTES and I wanted to give back to the school that started it all for me. I do love libraries and reading. I actually got 22 new books for Christmas just this year.”
Ella told The Manchester Times, “I’m not quite sure what I want to do after high school, but I’m looking at a possible career in education and architecture.”
“My uncle and dad helped a lot during the building and installation process, by teaching me how to use power tools. I gained a lot of knowledge regarding the craftsmanship part of the project. My favorite part was painting the dragon. I love art, and it was a lot of fun getting to paint the MTES mascot on the side of the library,” she said.
Ella said, “I also got to work with the librarian Mrs. (Laura) Henry, and she is allowing me to store books in the MTES library so I can go back to restock whenever the books are running low. I want to thank Mrs. (Jill) Moore for working with me, and allowing me to carry out this project at her school.”
The high school student wanted the public to know that the Little Library is located near the MTES playground bench and everyone in the community is invited to visit and enjoy what it has to offer, ideally, before and after school hours.
