COVID-19 affected the school, as well as staff and students in numerous ways. Since a year and a half ago, it has been many individuals’ first time in the school building. 

Since school started back up two weeks ago, media specialists Laura Bachinsky and Heather Fields explain the changes made to the media center. 

Bachinsky wants to remind students that the library is always open to them. 

“The most exciting part is reminding kids that they are welcome here, and they are always welcome here,” Bachinsky said.

Using their time without students to reconfigure the space, Fields notes a visible change from 2019 as soon as one walks in the door.  

“We had some extra time during the pandemic to kinda rethink our program since we were not having students everyday. We removed the desktops. They were dinosaurs basically and needed to be replaced. We felt okay about removing them because so many students have their own devices. We set up a new printing station, since the chromebooks do not print,” Fields said.

Fields also wants to let students know that she and Bachinksy are always in the library prepared to assist students with anything they need. 

“We are here for them to help with a variety of things. Obviously, we would like students to come in and check out books, but we want students to look at us as a resource for anything that they need, or any questions they have,” Fields said. “We might not always have the answer, but we will be there for them.”

In the media center there are plenty of books of various genres. There’s also been some new additions. 

Bachinsky highlights her favorite books that she definitely recommends students to check out and read. “Some of my favorites are The Poet X, about a girl who rebels against her very conservative family and becomes an on-the-fly performing poet, The Dealing in Dreams, and an older one, by the author Jack Gantos, that I love.”