Front Porch
  • News
    • Current News
    • Most Views/Comments
      • Most Comments
      • Most Recent Comments
      • Most Views
    • Editors’ Favorites
    • Resource Guides
    • Central Park Articles
    • PDF Archives
    • Advanced Search
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Ongoing Events
    • Submit an Event
  • Business Directory
    • Please consider these businesses for your goods and services. They make the paper possible.
  • Display Ads
    • Why Advertise in the Front Porch?
    • Ad Rates and Sizes
    • Advertising Q&A
    • Sample Ads
    • Distribution Map
    • How Can We Help You?
    • Place An Ad
  • Web Ads
  • Ask Front Porch
  • More Info
    • Rack Locations
    • Content Submissions
    • About Us
    • Community Resources
  • Home/
  • Stapleton Teacher-Librarians Receive National Award

Stapleton Teacher-Librarians Receive National Award

July 1, 2014 / Madeline Schroeder / Recognitions / 1 Comment
Eaglecrest librarians
Eaglecrest librarians

Eaglecrest librarians Kristin McKeown (left) and Hollie Hawkins (right) celebrate after being named the 2014 National School Library Program of the year.

Some may picture a high school library as an outdated room with dusty books and few students. But enter the library at Eaglecrest High School and it’s an environment more similar to a college library.
Students lounge in comfortable seating in a sunny atrium. Other students work on their computers at charging stations. Some check out iPod nanos at the front desk for audiobook listening.

At Eaglecrest, the library is a place students want to be.

“We’ll do anything to get students reading,” says teacher-librarian Kristin McKeown.

McKeown and her fellow teacher-librarian Hollie Hawkins, both Stapleton residents, have made the library an inviting and safe place, while also establishing an academic standard.

Eaglecrest, located in the Cherry Creek school district, was recently named the 2014 National School Library Program of the year by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). The organization annually recognizes a school for an exceptional library environment that is fully integrated into the entire school. The winning school receives a symbol of excellence and $10,000 for the library program.

“We’re making a difference for students professionally and academically, and ultimately their lives,” McKeown says.

Rather than librarians, McKeown and Hawkins are teacher-librarians because they train colleagues how to integrate the library into the curriculum. McKeown previously taught high school English and Hawkins taught elementary, so they both have classroom experience.

Eaglecrest is focused on reading, and the results are making a difference. The school reports a strong correlation between the number of book checkouts and ACT reading scores. Both have steadily increased over the past eight years.

“We’re lucky enough to work in a school and a district that supports the need for a library,” Hawkins says.

The $10,000 will go toward more books, a summer reading program and e-books and additional staffing.

Beyond academic reading, McKeown and Hawkins collaborate to keep students enthused about reading as a hobby. They host book talks and a book club. They offer more than 150 Kindles for students to check out and read e-books. They also coordinate with the local public library.

McKeown is a self-professed fantasy geek and jokes if there is a map at the beginning of a book then you know it’s going to be good. Hawkins enjoys a wider range of books, mostly fiction. The two occasionally carpool from their Stapleton homes, but most of the time they each don’t want to risk interrupting the audio book waiting in the car.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

One comment on “Stapleton Teacher-Librarians Receive National Award”

  1. Lynn Evenson says:
    July 7, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    So cool!!! I always knew you guys were the best. Congratulations on plaudits well earned!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Advanced Search
Facebook Pagelike Widget
© 2018 Front Porch NE | 303-526-1969 | Denver, CO 80238 | FrontPorch@FrontPorchNE.com | Sitemap