Front and Center at Lincoln Branch

Editor’s Note: Jorge Espinoza is the Front and Center Coordinator for our Lincoln Branch, a special position dedicated to teaching STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) to hundreds of children and teens.

For this month’s issue, he explains a little bit more about what his job entails.

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The Lincoln branch serves a great community here on the south side of Peoria, and I get to work directly with a lot of after-school and community groups. Each summer I invite over ten groups to the library for our weekly events. We have hundreds of children and teens of all ages come to the library for these weekly programs.

During the school year, I work directly with four different after-school groups each week for catered programming. This means that each and every week I’m creating a new program for upwards of 50 kids, ranging from kindergarteners to high schoolers. A question I’m always asking myself is, “How can I adjust this program so that a first grader and a freshman can both have fun and learn something from this program.”

A lot of the time it’s cutting out shapes beforehand and adding more pictures to presentations for younger kids, and more self-guided and hands-on work for older kids.

The bulk of my job is developing unique programs with a focus on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math).

The library is a place for the community to read and learn. My programs are intended to get children interested in the arts and sciences in a fun way. I always keep in mind that the children coming to the library most likely just got done with a six- or seven-hour day at school. My groups would definitely make a six- seven joke here (sorry, everyone else, you’ll have to look it up) so I need to develop programs that will engage their interests without feeling like a lesson or assignment from school.

My biggest group is the Dream Center group, which is mostly comprised of teenagers. They can be exhausted after a full day of school and so instead of always having them read or having a guided craft I find it easier to give them a space to be creative, but also to socialize and unwind.

To me, libraries don’t always have to be silent as long as the kids are engaged in their program activities. My programs can on occasion get loud, and I love it. My favorite repeat program is Jeopardy where my groups pick their own teams. They are so competitive, and our games often end up so close that there is a one question difference in points. I end up doing a lot of games like Jeopardy and loteria, a Mexican game similar to Bingo. I also like to have kids work together on science projects, my latest being a chemistry-focused program that my last group screamed in joy for when we made instant cold fizz.

Coming up with programs isn’t the easiest thing to do, as any library programmer knows. Rather than looking through Facebook or Pinterest, my go-to method for program ideas is just to think back on my time in school. Whatever school projects I can still remember being fun must have been a hit if I can remember them after 20 years, right? And so, when I think of making projects for all of my groups I try and make it memorable for them as much as they were memorable for me. This includes introducing kids to the latest technology.

When I was young that meant playing Poptropica at my local library because we didn’t have a computer at home. For children today that means using Lincoln Branch’s 3D printers, using our microscopes to see cells from a plant, or even the latest video game consoles that not every child has access to at home. It’s uniquely rewarding to see a child excited to test out a new technology or software even when it’s their fourth week in a row begging to go to the computer lab again (I kept a count).

Running programs for 50 kids a week can be exhausting, but it’s never dull. It’s the best feeling when the kids start to greet me midway through the year with hugs or with a new hi-five, which is my favorite greeting. Making the kids excited to come to the library is what I strive for.

Keep an eye out on our social media for the winners of the Winter Reading Challenge!