UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — Whimsical twinkle lights and colorful artwork grace the walls of Southern Lehigh High School’s new $1.7 million media center.
The district finished construction of the media center in September. It sits in the same location as the former library, which was demolished in June.
The modern learning space is a far cry from its predecessor, students said.
“Coming in here gives me a new perspective and makes me feel more productive."Sama Al-Alim, junior at Southern Lehigh High School
Junior Sama Al-Alim, 16, said she never visited the high school’s library — which fellow classmates described as “dark” and “old” — but she regularly frequents the new media center.
“Coming in here gives me a new perspective and makes me feel more productive,” she said.
The media center has cozy couches and lots of natural light, thanks to added windows.
It also has study rooms and makerspaces, where students can participate in hands-on activities such as science labs and art projects.
And there’s still stacks of books for students to peruse, too.
The media center opened partially for class use in October. And last month, students were able to start coming during their study halls.
Some student clubs meet in the media center during an enrichment period that’s built into the school day — called “Spartan Block,” a nod to the school’s mascot.
Starting in February, the media center will be open during Spartan Block, not only for clubs, but for individual students who want to take advantage of its offerings.
As long as the media center is open and has available capacity, students can sign up to use it by following the school’s internal protocols.
Changing the culture
In the past, the high school didn’t have a culture that encouraged use of the library, students said.
“It was never really advertised,” senior Gracelyn Dickinson, 18, said. “We didn’t even know how to check out a book.”
The high school didn’t have a librarian, either.
But that’s all changed.
In addition to the secretary who manned the library in the past, the district recently hired a library media specialist, Trisha Faust, who is dedicated to helping students take advantage of all the media center has to offer.
Senior Evon Kamel, 17, said Faust makes the space a welcoming environment that students want to visit.
She does that by writing fun prompts on the white board for students to answer, Evon said, and by offering the teens mints and scented bookmarks.
“Those tiny things really make an impact,” she said.
Evon recently checked out Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” from the media center’s collection. It’s the first novel in a young adult dystopian series that famously was adapted for the screen.
However, Evon never borrowed any books during her previous three years of high school. She said that’s in part because the selection wasn’t appealing.
“The books in the [former] library were so old that basic updates to some biographies were not made in them,” she said.
“Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they didn't even have that he was governor of California.”
Southern Lehigh weeded out 83% of its former collection because those titles were out of date, the administration said.
The district also bought 3,902 new books to offer students a more modern selection.
And the literary overhaul paid off.
Students have been particularly excited to read fantasy books, Faust said.
Those include the books in Rick Riordan’s adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” which is chock full of monsters and Greek mythology to grab students’ attention.
Makerspaces for student exploration
But the appeal of the media center isn’t only in the stacks.
There also are makerspaces for hands-on learning experiences — one is dedicated to student exploration, and the other must be booked by a teacher for class activities.
“More and more school libraries are adopting a makerspace area,” said Faust, who started in her role in August.
“It’s a space for them to explore at their own pace and learn other things they might be interested in."Trisha Faust, library media specialist at Southern Lehigh High School
The library media specialist described a makerspace as akin to a STEAM lab for science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
“It’s a space for them to explore at their own pace and learn other things they might be interested in,” Faust said.
In the student-led makerspace, the options include making origami, designing buttons, molding Play-Doh and more.
For students who are inclined toward the sciences, there are additional options, which include viewing specimens under a microscope and building model bridges with engineering kits.
In the coming weeks, 3D printers will be installed in the media center, too. There also are plans to add Cricuts — which are cutting machines that can be used to make custom T-shirts and other creations.
Sophomore Moksha Patel, 15, said the arts and crafts options make her want to spend more time in the media center.
Reading isn’t her favorite pastime, she said, so she appreciates the additional activities that are available.
“Now this is a useful place for everybody,” she said.
Principal Joshua Miller said the media center’s second makerspace is used for intricate class activities that require lots of room.
He said the makerspace is suited for upcoming science labs that will take place next semester.
For instance, the school’s forensics class has a crime scene lab, and the physics class has a force lab, which involves model rollercoasters, Miller said.
Inspiring 'a lot of possibilities'
The media center is better able to accommodate those learning experiences than the old library, the principal said.
“We just saw that our traditional library just doesn’t fit what students are experiencing when they go off to college or when they go off to the workplace,” Miller said.
“Things have become way more collaborative and way more open for investigation.”
English teacher Lauren Tocci said she uses the media center for class when she holds Socratic seminars, which involve students asking each other questions about a text, often while seated in a circle.
“Things have become way more collaborative and way more open for investigation.”Joshua Miller, principal at Southern Lehigh High School
Tocci said the media center provides flexible seating that lets students engage in the discussion from wherever they feel most comfortable.
It also offers students a change of scenery from the “traditional classroom,” Tocci said, which makes them feel more willing to share their ideas.
“I think sometimes when you’re sitting at a desk, there’s this reticence of, ‘What’s really different about this?’” she said.
Tocci also uses the media center to teach the high school’s yearbook class, projecting page proofs onto communal screens so students can design and critique page layouts together.
As part of the media center renovation project, the yearbook’s publication lab was moved into a room next to the school’s TV studio — both of which are attached to the media center.
Tamara Solometo, Southern Lehigh’s director of curriculum and instruction, said the district hopes to get equipment so students can create podcasts in the media center, as well.
Overall, the goal of the space, she said, is to offer learning options that “cut across all content areas.”
Whether students are building the yearbook, making crafts, testing scientific theories or reading a good book, they can do it all in the media center.
“We wanted the space to inspire a lot of possibilities,” Solometo said.
And thus far, students said it’s done just that.
