Widener University students ensured that children at Stetser Elementary School in Chester have a recreational reading area by reviving the school’s library, writes Kevin Tustin for the Delaware County News Network.

The space for the school’s original library was repurposed years ago to accommodate the growing student population.

To rectify this, Widener students Melissa Damiani, Allison Rueter, Julia Gillespie, and Alexa Ahramijian started their own donation and fundraising campaigns to bring it back.

A GoFundMe account was set up, and it raised $2,300. This will help provide items for the classrooms on teachers’ wish lists. Meanwhile, local schools organized book drives for the new library, with BookSmiles nonprofit donating 600 books out of the 5,000 donations.

With the old library space not available, three large bookcases built by Rueter’s father have been placed by the auditorium.

Teachers can now bring their students down to the stand-alone library and monitor which books are being taken out. Students receive colored paint sticks to mark the place where they borrowed the book.

“It was not meant to be this big,” said Damiani. “It’s so amazing and we’re so proud of it.”

Read more about the new library from the Delaware County News Network by clicking here.

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