HHSC Celebrates School Library Month

Strong school libraries and their staff play an essential role in student learning. Libraries and the imaginative and innovative librarians who run them are an invaluable part of our schools. Our media centers are the hub of school activities. They foster a sense of belonging and are an engaging place to think, connect, create, discover, and explore. They also offer our students the opportunity to grow through access to technology, multimedia, and incredible resources of every variety.

HHSC’s Media Center specialists are cross-curricular resources who bring with them over 55 years of combined media center expertise (more if you add in previous teaching experience) to students and staff at Heights. They wear many hats, but their role can be broken into three key parts: literacy advocate, resource manager, and research specialist.

Karen Jones, HHES Media Center Specialist said her job is her passion. “I love teaching students how to locate the information they need and want,” said Jones who has been with Hamilton Heights since 1999. I love helping students find the books they want. The best thing a student tells me is ‘That is the book I have been looking for!’ or ‘That is the one I have been wanting to read!’ My students get so excited about books and when they first start to read it is a whole new world that just opens up to them! It’s just the best!!”

Jones began her career in education as an elementary teacher but when she didn’t get hired right away in her large school district that interviews by the hundreds it seemed, she went to work for the Louisville Free Public Library as a Children’s Library Assistant. “I was, however, the only one servicing children in our small branch so I did all the programming and story times,” she recalled. “I fell in love with the work! I then got my long sought-after teaching job but within one year missed the library. I knew that is where I belonged, so I took a year’s sabbatical and earned my master’s in library science. I landed my first library position in Louisville. I was there for seven years, got married, moved to Fishers, Indiana, and luckily was hired by Hamilton Heights.”

“I have had the opportunity in the many years at Heights to have served on the Hamilton Heights Educational Foundation and was President for one term,” she continued. “I am proud to spend my summers with my colleague from the middle school, Emily Beechler, on the Bookmobile putting books in the hands of our people in our communities that might not be able to receive service anywhere else. I call this ‘My Summer Gig!’ Mrs. Beechler drives, I check out! It is a perfect system!!”

“I imagine that even after I retire,” Jones added, “I will find myself in the library in some capacity.” “This is my happy place.”

“I became a Media Specialist because I love books and I love kids, so it seemed like a perfect fit!” said Emily Beechler, Media Specialist at Hamilton Heights Middle School. “Once I actually started the job I realized it is so much more than that. I get to work with kids and teachers developing and implementing lessons and units of study to improve our reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. There are days I get to work with kids matching them with the perfect book, and then the next day I might be coaching a teacher in a new writing program. Every day is a new adventure! My job is unique because every year I get to work with every kid in our building…I don’t think any other teacher at HHMS gets to do that!

“Another big part of my job is helping teachers who don’t typically teach English (science, history, PE, etc.) integrate reading and writing activities into their curriculum,” continued Beechler, who has been a teacher at Heights for 22 years, the past 14 in the Media Center. “We work together to not only plan the units, but I also help them with the actual teaching. We want kids to realize these skills are important in ALL areas, not just English class.”

Beechler, the parent of two daughters at Heights, is also the middle school English Department Head, Student Government sponsor, Husky Readers Club sponsor, PokemonGo Club sponsor, Huskies for the Cross Co-sponsor, the infamous Bookmobile Driver, and School Improvement Committee Co-Chair.

Lori Hippensteel, HHHS Media Center Specialist, said the media center is the heart of the building. “We work to make this collaborative space welcoming to all students who need a place to study, a place for groups to meet to work on projects, and a place where their questions can get answered and their technical problems solved,” explained Hippensteel, who initially became a Media Center Specialist because of her love of books and reading.

“Its [media center] easy access and convenience allows students to come and go,” she continued. “Students know that someone is available before and after school, and technical assistance is available throughout the school day. Moreover, students know that we are here for them – to help and provide a space to congregate for social and academic purposes.”

Now in her 17th year as the high school Media Center Specialist, Hippensteel liked the idea of taking a personal love and turning it into a career. Now, it’s all about the staff and students she serves and about “what can the media center do to assist staff and students with their social and academic needs.”

Hippensteel, who is the Student Government and Honor Society Faculty sponsor, said the best part of her work is the opportunity to build relationships with the students and staff. “The goal is to help others to make their day better,” she added.