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Ms. Tighe has been a longtime figure in the RHS library as the resident librarian for the past 12 years in the school, but sadly this year is our last with this amazing person as she retires next year, but we had the grateful opportunity to speak to her on her time at RHS and her life.
Ms. Tighe started out with getting an undergraduate degree from Temple University in English Literature and theater, with more focusing on theater until she eventually stopped theater, because as she said, “I have no talent”.
She then went on to also get a Master's in Education from The City University of New York, a few years later after doing some interim teaching and liking it.
Ms. Tighe by Kristen Henderson
She then moved around for a few years after living in New York for 10 years and next went to New Mexico where she actually got inspired to become a librarian by a teacher who thought she would be good at it, and urged her to pursue becoming a librarian. This ended up being a good decision as she said she doesn’t miss teaching as she doesn’t like grading. Lastly, Ms.Tighe moved around for a few more years and taught for a little bit at a college until coming to Portland and then PPS.
She must then be good at being a librarian since she has now been the resident librarian at RHS for the past 12 years and has been a wonderful member of the staff here. She actually started with our school being the first time she was a librarian and she had a big job as the library definitely needed some help. In her time she was able to weed out many unused books and expanded our collection from 7,000 books to 11,000.
She has also had the wonderful opportunity of having to go from an old library to a new one, as the school got renovated. So she had to figure out where books went and the design of things in the library and actually that was one of Ms.Tighe’s favorite parts, the interior design aspect she now got to do. And she did an amazing job as the library I will say is one of the prettiest spots in the school with it being so open and calming. Ms. Tighe also did say that her favorite part of the library is light that is able to come in through the big windows, which adds to the calming effect.
As being a part of the community for so long we also asked Ms.Tighe how her experience has been at RHS, and overall she says she has enjoyed the experience of being able to directly interact with students, expand the library and host many successful author events. It hasn’t been all as great as she expressed how at times she was frustrated by choices by the school and felt unsupported at times as well. However she most enjoyed being able to make relationships with students, interacting with them and helping them; and that was worth it.
RHS Library by Kristen Henderson
Sadly though this year is Ms. Tighe’s last year teaching as she is going to retire once the school year ends. She said she made this decision as she is turning 65, so she's able to get Medicare, and simply she is tired; which is fair after working for so long, especially working with highschoolers. We will sadly miss her, and the brightness she brings to the library space but hope she is able to enjoy herself in her retirement and read many books, especially poetry ones that she has a particularly soft heart for, as well as hopefully be able to publish more poetry works as well.
By Elsa Anderson
Roosevelt High School
Published May 3, 2022
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