Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Participants Jose Saveedra, Mateo Pinal and Donna Rocha create origami at the Hood County library Japanese teen night.
The Hood County Library is more than just books. It is a safe space to meet new people, share similar ideas and interests. It is a space where teens can express creativity every third Thursday.
This past Thursday, the theme was Japanese culture. At 5:30 p.m., teens began wandering into the room and it didn’t take long for them to break the ice and start making new friends.
“We see the library as a community center. Not as a book depository, but where there is fun, community, togetherness and camaraderie,” Youth Director Cookie Haun said.
“Socializing with new people is fun. I told my friends about it, and they were interested in coming,” Donna Rocha said.
The night was coordinated by Haun, office manager Cara Connolly-White, and Kai Stevens. Fifteen teenagers made hand-crafted candy sushi that was folded and molded with the exteriors being rice crispy and choices of fruit roll-ups, gummy worms, and Swedish Fish replicating raw fish for the inside.
Beginning in the fall of 2020, Hood County’s library director, Jennifer Logsdon, organized the first teen event to “create a safe space” full of opportunities where young people grow and can learn something new.
“There is a treasure sitting right here in the center of Hood County to make connections with likeminded people in a beautiful space,” Logsdon said.
Logsdon wants to spread the word about teen nights. She plans to reach out to Hood County’s middle schools and high schools to encourage more participation.
The program has grown from a modest two to three teens to Thursday where the program hosted more than a dozen. Hood County Library provides “teen night, code club, craft club, book club, family night, story time, Music N Motion,” and even activities to reach older groups in the community.
On this night, teens raced each other in a friendly chopstick race, seeing who could pick up candy pieces and objects the fastest. The race encouraged the teens to learn how to eat with chopsticks. Additional activities included decorating chopsticks and making origami.
The program is free.
