Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School media specialist Shona Foster poses with “My Jasper June” by Laurel Snyder at her desk on Sept. 5. Foster has several author visits planned for the 2019-2020 school year and has already hosted Snyder. “Laurel Snyder was here today, and I was completely starstruck by her. I probably gushed over her but it was just like, it was really lightning. Her books really touched me and really spoke to me,” Foster said. “The book talks that we had some teachers read those books and put them in the classroom, so the kids were excited.” Photo by Alexander Robinson
Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School media specialist Shona Foster has an ambitious schedule planned for the 2019-2020 school year.
Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School media specialist Shona Foster has big plans for the school year ahead. By the spring, she hopes to have hosted a number of events in her library.
“I’m doing the Helen-Ruffin Reading Bowl because (Clarke Central High School students) all do it. I want our kids to be exposed to that and not be the first time they hear about it, so I’m trying to get (an) old team together, and we’re reading the books. I put them on this summer reading list so that they wouldn’t just be hearing about them,” Foster said. “I (also) didn’t do any author visits last year, so I have an author visit booked for every grade level. I think my last one is in October, so I’ve got one coming in another week and a half, and then I got a little bit of a break till the end of October. So I will probably be underneath the books (by November).”
In planning a large number of activities for the BHL community, Foster has begun to enlist the help of some of its students.
“I’m actually learning that middle school kiddos because you gotta remember this is my second year with middle school, middle school kiddos can handle quite a bit,” Foster said. “So I’m training some folks to help me with some of the tasks that I just can’t get to like reshelving books straightening up the shelves, making the library look presentable and ready for the next class so I have about two or three kiddos that are extremely dedicated to that.”
One such student is Thomas Brown, a sixth-grader attending BHL.
“Basically, what I do in (the media center) is I put up books. I help arrange, like shelves. I reshelve books that have been taken out and people put in these bins,” Brown said. “Basically, what that is, is they put it in the bin, just so that they don’t put it in the wrong place. And I also scan check-ins.”
