After saying goodbye to school Media Center Specialist Dr. Dorr this past school year, Paint Branch welcomed the friendly Ms. Eileen Gardner with open arms to take over.
A lover of reading and information makes Ms. Gardner perfect for the job of Media Specialist. Already she’s brought a wave of change to the space. Walking through the Media Center, one can see the shelves rearranged, books moved, and high chairs placed.
Coming from Drew Elementary, Ms. Gardner transitions to high school with big dreams. The dreams include creating a well-used space that revolves around students and their needs, providing a resource to all who walk through the center’s doors. “This is your space,” Ms. Gardner says. “I want to work as many students and staff as possible to make the media center the most-used and most-useful space at Paint Branch.”
The biggest and most exciting of all of the changes she brings might be the makerspace. Traditionally, a makerspace is a place for the creative and problem-solvers to come together, working on hands-on projects and their creative pursuits, but the Paint Branch Makerspace is open to all.
Ms. Gardner wants the room to “provide a moment of mindfulness when things get stressful,” which any student can find when enjoying the room’s board games, Legos, and coloring pages. The hottest activity thus far has been Perler beads- small and colorful beads that are arranged on a grid and ironed to create impressive images ranging from flowers to superheroes.
Another focus has been to add more student-centered items, including a seating area which was added for kids to come in and chill among the books. High tables and tall chairs were moved from the Panther Cafe to the Media Center, replacing where the reference books used to reside. Most of these reference books are gone now as updating the book collection is part of Ms. Gardner’s agenda.
A majority of the books that haven’t been checked out in years (some as far back as the 80s!) are being donated to other schools, while the remaining books will continue to call Paint Branch home. Ms. Gardner mentions that this purge keeps the school’s library up to date, while also giving her the flexibility to add to the book collection, which she happily has done by adding more recently published novels and developing a bigger graphic novel section.
Ms. Gardner states that these changes are to “make the media center all about students.” Everything revolves around those who take advantage of the space, but teachers are openly welcomed too. “I hope teachers will see the value in partnering with the media center to curate resources, assist with teaching students the research process, and working with us to come up with awesome learning experiences and projects with their students,” she says.
The Media Center of today is definitely a change from the past few years. Ms. Gardner has been making bold strides, and
Ms. Gardner thanks her support team for helping her with the transition, highlighting Media Assistants Ms. Burns and Ms. Dodd, ITSS Mr. Scott, and Media Services Technician Mr. Burgos. Impressed with the students’ work ethic and dedication, and she feels as if she’s found her own cozy home among these shelves.
“I feel like I am finally where I am supposed to be,” Ms. Gardner expresses happily, “Paint Branch students make me proud. I am thrilled to be here. Being a media specialist is the best job ever.”