The Woodland Public Library Sets Out To Help Students

Ellora Biggs - October 2nd, 2023

Earlier this month, the Woodland Public Library held one of their beloved annual events, Adulting 101, as a part of their work with Yolo’s Roadmap to the Future to help transition age youth. Like last year, the six hour event had a fantastic turnout! Over 100 teens showed up to take classes from local businesses, organizations, and teachers. Classes ranged from buttercream cupcakes to UC admissions information. Other popular classes included painting, how to pay for college, and study tips. 

This is all a part of the WPL’s initiative to teens and tweens, also known as transition age youth. Recently, they’ve attended summits hosted by Roadmap to the Future to engage with teens directly on what they need to thrive. More specifically, Roadmap to the future hopes to make being born in Yolo County an advantage. With the Library, they want to equip teens and tweens with life skills to make them better adults. 

Adulting 101 is a great resource for teens that teaches them skills for adult life. School oftentimes doesn’t teach you life skills and information that are really applicable for adult life. In our district, teens haven’t been taught how to pay taxes, how to budget, how to prepare for college, or how to financially flourish. Many of the skills have to be sought out, and to simply put it, teens don’t know how to do that or where to find these resources. Adulting 101 helped to fill this gap by bringing these skills to teens in an accessible way. 

Adulting 101 isn’t the only way that the library helps teens. They offer a plethora of resources to connect with teens. Square One offers craft classes at the library which are open to anyone! They have 3-d printers and sewing machines all free to use. To connect teens with the community, the library hosts “Crafternoons” once a month where teens make different crafts which will be donated. Coding classes are also available at the library. All of these programs are wonderful, but in addition to Adulting 101, one of their hallmark programs is the Teen Advisory Board. 

TAB is especially important because it helps students to develop critical soft skills for the future. I’m not trying to downplay the importance of credit cards, taxes, and insurance. But, the importance of soft skills needs to be emphasized. The COVID-19 pandemic has really affected the younger generations, especially those who missed out on critical socialization skills. TAB helps students develop leadership and communication skills through work with the community. Members plan events such as adulting 101, volunteer, and attend monthly meetings. It’s a great way to get yourself out there as a teen and become more confident in your abilities. 

As a student in the Woodland Joint Unified School district, you have a library card! This card, provided by the WPL, is free for any student. To access it, your user id is a w in front of your lunch number, and the pin is the last four digits of your lunch number. For more detailed instructions, please see this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qKaJ3rp2O6gWEVqyUprv_IMSWfjdPH3KMPPoSLvBj2U/edit?usp=sharing 

The WPL is a vibrant part of our community and a great resource for students. They have so much to offer, so please pay them a visit. For more information on the Woodland Public Library and their resources, please visit their website at https://woodlandpubliclibrary.com/ or you can find them in person on 250 1st Street, Woodland, CA.