Since the fire that Highglen Montessori suffered in April 2013, the support from the community to help us rebuild has been phenomenal. As the Learning Commons teacher at Highglen Montessori, part of my job is to oversee the library, and this has meant a chance to build a collection from scratch. It is gratifying to know that our community still understands the important role libraries play in the 21st century as a place for leadership in the school community to shine.
I cannot thank Tanya and the Coles books team and the community for raising money for us, so that, on Tuesday December 9th, I was able to take a second group of students down to Coles Books in the mall to spend the money they had fundraised for us. It was utterly fantastic to have the kids be able to choose books in this way.
Another huge asset in our rebuilding has been Books & Co. Owen and his staff have bent over backwards to help get us what we needed to ensure that our library was back to what it needed to be. The money in the fire fund at Books & Co. was equally valuable in securing books early on in the rebuild.
Finally, the last big thanks goes out to the School District and especially the District Learning Commons for working all summer long last year to get us books ready for September, processing literally thousands of books on top of their regular job throughout the 2013-2014 school year. For the purchasing department that worked with them to ensure we had the autonomy to build the collection as we needed it rather than just buying a pre-packaged library. That would have been easier, but it would have been a disservice to the kids. I am eternally grateful that they chose not to do it that way.
Thank you also to the Public Library and the Prince George Citizen for awarding us a Raise a Reader grant that allowed us to build up a strong collection of First Nations content and puppets for readers theatre to supplement what we had coming in already.
Truly Highglen has been blessed by the generosity of spirit that the Prince George community has shown us. Thank you.
Joseph Jeffery
Learning Commons Teacher
Highglen Montessori Elementary School
& District Learning Commons Liaison
