Meet our newest staff member, Melissa Flint.
Five years ago, Melissa was living in a village in Rwanda working and living side by side with 500 youth who had been orphaned as a result of the 1994 genocide. Her role was to help empower the youth, to build skills and restore confidence and resilience, through a variety of group-based projects.
“I learned about the resilience of the human spirit”, Melissa recalls, “about how much a person can go through and still wake up and say, ‘This will be a better day’”.
Today, Melissa works with young people on behalf of a number of organizations, including Wildsight, Wild Voices for Kids, and College of the Rockies.
“I feel like my role as an educator is to present possibilities that young people can grab onto and explore”, explains Melissa. “Youth can do a lot more than we generally give them credit for, and there are lots of approaches we can take that allow youth to be seen and heard in the way that they want to be seen and heard. I’m really interested in supporting teens to learn more, do more, build leadership skills, deepen their cultural understanding and anything else that they are excited about. I want to facilitate that empowerment however that looks”.
Melissa’s role at the library is to develop a consultative framework and facilitate youth programming initiatives within a library context. “Libraries are more than just rows of books,” she enthusiastically explains. “The mission of the library is about a broader search for knowledge, about an ongoing process of learning and being an engaged person in the world. There are so many different doors that a library can open.”
Many of the teenaged Rwandans that Melissa worked with in 2012 have become leaders in their home communities, or are studying at universities around the world. Melissa recalls one young man who is undertaking an Economics degree at the University of British Columbia, has attended conferences across North America, and even had a chance to meet with Bill Clinton face to face. “It’s just an amazing story of personal perseverance against great odds”, she says, her face lighting up at the thought.
Teens who want to get involved can email Melissa at melissa@crestonlibrary.com.
All teens are welcome to drop in to the library’s teen space. The space features a “Creativity Zone”, which includes computers with professional music recording, video editing, website design and graphic design software installed. Or just come out and spend time with friends in a safe environment.
Adults can access the “Creativity Zone” by appointment weekdays 10am-3pm and all day Saturday. This service is intended to be self-directed, so bring a friend if technology intimidates you. We would also love to offer public workshops on particular aspects of the technology if demand is sufficient, so please let me know if you are interested.
Happy reading everyone!