New Media Specialist Randy Olund loves his time here so far. Olund genuinely wants to help students to be the best they can.

“I knew I wanted to be a media specialist after my second year because I wanted to help more with students and help them find materials,” Olund said.

Teaching was Olund’s first passion before learning his way to be a media specialist.

He credits a fellow teacher at a junior high school where he was teaching in Cumberland County with encouraging him to pursue his current passion.

Although no longer in the classroom, Olund believes that media specialists still play an integral role in education.

“I think they are important because they pair resources to students and staff so they can be successful and achieve their goals,” Olund said.

To be a media specialist, Olund had to go back to school. He took courses at night at N.C. Central University to become certified.

While he checks out lots of novels to students, his own favorite is “The Davinci Code” by Dan Brown.

Many of the students that Olund sees each day utilize the media center because they do not have access to a computer or the internet at home and that’s something he’d like to help improve upon.

Olund said, “If I could make one difference, it would be to have every student have an electronic device.”