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Students hear from human library

Getting teens to pick up a book can be a challenge, so at Oilfields High School students have been given a new way to take in a story for Family Literacy Day.
Rick Quarrel of the Canadian Wild Horse Racing Association speaks at the Human Library event held by Oilfields High School on Jan. 12. Students were able to pick brains from
Rick Quarrel of the Canadian Wild Horse Racing Association speaks at the Human Library event held by Oilfields High School on Jan. 12. Students were able to pick brains from a diverse crowd of specialists and personalities from the community.

Getting teens to pick up a book can be a challenge, so at Oilfields High School students have been given a new way to take in a story for Family Literacy Day.

The Black Diamond school’s library technician Nadine Russell invited 29 people from across the Foothills to tell interesting stories to 200 junior high students on Feb. 12 in what is called a human library.

Student “readers” selected two to four human books to “check out” for 20-minute sessions. The books included a firefighter, First Nations RCMP officer, Olympic gold medalists, recovering drug addict and rodeo clown.

“I wanted it to be impactful,” Russell said. “Kids today don’t hear stories so I wanted to rock their little socks off. They are raised in a generation when nothing is taboo. There is not a lot of thought and there is a lot of judgment. I wanted them to think a bit more and don’t judge someone before you hear their story.”

Russell crafted the idea for Family Literacy Day, which is actually on Jan. 27, after reading about a human library at the New York Metropolitan Library.

“They have two to three people always there,” she said of New York’s human library. “I follow the Humans of New York on Facebook. I love seeing these ideas.”

Junior high school students were quick to write their names down when Russell posted sign-up sheets on the library doors.

“The ones I didn’t expect the students to fill up went fast,” said Russell. “The mom of the transgender student filled up first.”

On Feb. 12, the “borrowers” sat in the learning commons, drama room, band foyer and a classroom listening to the human books tell inspiring stories.

“I haven’t seen a single kid with a device,” said Russell during the fourth and final session. “They are listening. Half of them have their hands up.”

Grade 9 student Tarran Klopp said hearing the story of a woman who experienced relationship abuse, a recovering drug addict and Olympic bobsledder provided a real-life perspective she wouldn’t have gotten from a book.

“You actually hear it from people and you can relate to it,” she said. “To have an actual person tell it, it sticks with you more. You can touch on different subjects with a person. It’s a lot more personal.”

Garrett Dyer doesn’t remember the last time he picked up a book.

“I don’t really like to read,” the Grade 9 student admitted.

The human library suited Dyer better.

“This way you are not sitting down and coming up with your own imagination,” he said. “They set the story for you. You can listen to the stories and if you ask questions they reply.”

There was a moral to Sherraine Schalm’s story of becoming Canada’s most decorated fencer.

“Your level of success is entirely dependent on how you react to your failures,” she said. “You’ve got to keep your head in the game and find a new way to get success.”

Schalm told her “borrowers” there were times she wanted to give up, but her dad’s insistence she stick it out and her perseverance resulted in her becoming the first Canadian to win a world championship medal.

When she took off her mask while training in Europe, someone told her, “You don’t belong here.”

“I felt like giving up,” she said.

She didn’t, and encouraged students to not give up either. She hopes it’s advice they take to heart.

“It’s something not a lot of people talk about - after you fail how to react,” she said. “It’s about telling stories kids can relate to.”

Magician Malcolm Russell also had a lesson in his story about his dream to be the first magician to perform on all of Scotland’s 106 inhabited islands.

He achieved it in 366 days.

Russell said a quarter of the islands have a population of one family or less and he reached them using ferries, fishing boats and rubber dinghies, and performed in community halls, schools, pubs, monasteries, weddings, funerals and even a farmer’s field for a herd of feral cows.

“I tried fire juggling, but they were not interested,” he said.

Russell said his biggest challenge was reaching St. Kilda, the most remote island.

“It took a year of constant phoning people for ideas for transportation,” he said, adding he finally found a local man who offered fish boat tours.

For the remainder of last week, teachers engaged students in conversations about the stories they heard, encouraging them to retell them to teachers, peers and their families.

Following the success of the event, Russell said she will talk to other staff about the possibility of hosting the event at Oilfields High School next year, adding she received interest from teachers about offering it to high school students.

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