Give the Library a Chance!

A Lesson Learned

Being a senior means that a lot of things sink in when you know that you only have a year of school left before your life completely changes. Regrets of past actions as you wish that time could be reversed. Although this sounds depressing, it does bring up an important lesson I had the opportunity to learn now in my final year--how I underutilized the library and all its great benefits and resources.

Sowing the Seeds of a Blossoming Niche

If you’ll allow me to hop back in time to 2019, I remember of myself as a freshman, when I began experimenting with reading more. I’ve never been a big reader, but I’ve had interests in graphic novels and short stories. This was, to say the least, a niche interest that would eventually grow greatly. As we know, the following year was not very kind as the school was shut down, and continued to be that way until partial openings in 2021. Throughout that time I was still able to check books out remotely from the library, but there was a missing piece that I never realized was so vital...

A Spark of Inspiration

Cut now to this year, more specifically August: The library is now open to students again to hang out. This was the catalyst to a feeling I hadn’t realized would overtake me. The atmosphere of peace and silence, of being surrounded by a nice cool temperature, soft cushions, and hundreds of books. A place of concentration, a place where I can work without the constant distractions of the outside world. I am obviously dramatizing these feelings, but it really is amazing how well one can perform when the environment coincides with the task. In addition to that, the ability to check out almost anything I could want to read that piques my interest, of holding a book in hand, is different to the online style to which I had become accustomed.

Balancing My Time

Now I try to spend as much time as I can in the library. It is difficult considering I can only feasibly go for half an hour in the morning and then whenever possible until 4 p.m. after school. Being a Senior, a student of 5 IB classes, in multiple clubs leaves me with very little time, but the time I am able to spend in the library more than makes up for it when I can sit down and read in peace. Being able to read literature that interests me such as works from Aldous Huxley and Charles Dickens when I please makes me wish I had taken advantage of it more years prior before the pandemic closed it down for nearly two years.

A Message to Those After Me

The point I am trying to make is to all fellow students that will graduate long after I am gone. Don’t leave things till later and don’t disregard the resources that the school has provided us. Most will realize until too late and regret the time lost, because time is a resource one cannot buy back. So I recommend that you all give the library at least a visit and check out a book that interests you.