College student Dillon Barnes with Assistant Library Manager Bernadine Goldman and a special cake served during Monday’s Thank You party for junior volunteers at Mesa Public Library. Photo by Katy Korkos
Fun and games are provided to junior volunteers at Monday’s Thank You party at Mesa Public Library. Photo by Katy Korkos
MPL News:
Let’s say you’re just eight to 12 years old, but you have a lot of energy and you just love the library. You can’t get a job, so how about volunteering?
Fourteen lucky kids get to do just that – and they were treated to a party in thanks for all the hours they’ve put in. Nearly 300 hours were spent altogether in what one kid calls his “unpaid internship” – and you can be sure that he will put these hours on his resume and on his college applications.
The Thank You party after school on Monday featured sodas, chips, cupcakes and a special ninja cookie-cake, along with video games and board games.
Junior volunteers Audrey Downing and Melanie Tapia. Photo by Katy Korkos
This school year’s volunteers were Luke Atkins, Aiden Colgan, Audrey Downing, Savannah Kimball, Nikolai Nelson, Melanie Tapia, Tory Semanision, Andrew Watson, Logan Wingo, Jasmine Vigil, Tazler Smith, Michael Szymanski, Jess Tapia and Peter Watson.
They helped out by keeping the little kid’s areas tidied up, by taking out the recycling, by dusting shelves and by helping out as needed in the library.
They’re only allowed to work one hour per week, so they can properly focus on school work.
Some of them have been coming to the library since they were babies, for story-times, then as toddlers for M & Ms, then as summer reading participants, and now as student volunteers. They know where everything is on the bottom floor, and they’re working their way up.
To apply to be a junior volunteer, go to the Youth Services department and ask for an application. The program has all the volunteers they need for the summer, but they’ll take applications for the school year.
Junior volunteers playing video games during their Thank You party Monday at Mesa Public Library. Photo by Katy Korkos
