Library  

I began managing the Rampart High School Library Media Center (LMC) in July 2018 alongside my Digital Learning Coach Role.  Each year since then, I have focused on 4 - 5 of the thousands of initiatives librarians have to choose from.  Recreating the LMC into a destination location, growing the collection to meet our students and staff's needs, creating interactive displays, working to ensure truth and justice remain sacred, reimagining the space to fit our current population and goals, and ensuring all students feel a sense of belonging - to name a few.

To start, I changed the antiquated name of the space to Library Innovation Center and my title to Innovation Specialist.  I created a robust Makerspace and encouraged students to use the design cycle in their creations.

After years of technology focus and feeling like my library job was second to my coaching/technology job, I had a change of heart.

In the summer of 2024, I was inspired by a book study to focus more on reading and less on technology to create a reading culture at our school.  The book, Creating a Reading Culture in Primary and Secondary Schools: A Practical Guide by Margaret Merga, showed me how I could best contribute to increasing literacy at Rampart.  Merga identifies a connection between reading for pleasure and higher literacy achievement.  So, I started working on a 5-year plan to increase the accessibility of books across our community, decrease the stigma associated with reading for pleasure, celebrate what libraries offer teens, and more, called Creating a Reading Culture at Rampart High School.