Students get books for younger peers

ROUND ROCK — Children at Decker Elementary School in eastern Travis County received new books worth $1,000 this week thanks to the efforts of honor students at a Leander school district middle school.

A group of students from Canyon Ridge Middle School spent three days in December reading to young customers at a Barnes & Noble book fair at the Hill Country Galleria, said teacher Nancy Minter, the sponsor of the campus National Junior Honor Society.

Barnes & Noble presented the middle school with a check for $1,700, Minter said, under an arrangement in which customers could request that 20 percent of proceeds from their purchases go to the school. Customers also donated $500.

The Canyon Ridge students used $1,000 to buy new books for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students at Decker, which is in the Manor school district, Minter said. The Leander students chose to help Decker because a large number of students there are in low-income families.

Eighth-grader Ashneen Rahman was among the Canyon Ridge students who delivered the books to Decker on Wednesday.

“Every single one of us enjoyed this fantastic trip,” Rahman said.

Jessica Danelson, a bilingual kindergarten teacher at Decker, said, “The kids absolutely loved the new books and were so excited to read with the eighth-graders that came to donate the books.”

The rest of the money from the book fair will be donated to other charities for children, Minter said.