Students who check out books from the RBHS Media Center in the month of February may enter into a raffle to win a free drink voucher from Lakota Coffee as part of the second annual initiative, “Read a Latte.” Through a partnership with Lakota Coffee, each week’s raffle winner will receive a voucher for a free drink. Media Center specialist Jill Varns said the program may extend into the first month of March to make up for snow days. She said the Media Center originally began “Read a Latte,” in the hopes of encouraging students to read. 

“We really hope students check out more books, especially books that aren’t necessarily assigned in class, like fun reading books,” Varns said. “Also, [we hope] it really just gets more students to spend time [in the Media Center].”

After checking out a book, students may fill out a blank slip with their name and contact information. Any student may enter, and the raffle resets after the end of each week. Junior Daniel Forte said though he did not enter, he thought the program could help more students take advantage of the Media Center as a resource.

“[‘Read a Latte,’ could improve the RBHS community] just probably through getting more people involved in the school,” Forte said. “Then when you’re in the media center, you know, incentives positively reinforced [students] to read and enjoy the Media Center.”

Varns said posters advertising the event hung on walls throughout the school and Media Center, and Media Center staff distributed flyers to various teachers. Varns said about 50 students have entered the raffle since the beginning of February. Despite the publicization efforts, sophomore Emma Howell said she thought students who were not interested in checking out books would not be incentivized by the program. 

“I think students who aren’t reading right now probably aren’t going to [enter the raffle] because the library offers them coffee,” Howell said. “The program is definitely well intentioned but I think they missed a lot of students.”

Still, Varns said the program has been a success thus far, and she urges students to participate before the opportunity ends. 

“We really think it’s a fun way to get kids in the Media Center and encourage reading. This is such an important space and we want students to get the opportunity to take advantage of it.” Varns said. “We’ve given out two [gift cards], and we hope to give out more.”

Do you spend time in the Media Center? Let us know in the comments below.