Windfalls

A couple of weeks ago I came back from a rare lunch out to find a crowd waiting outside my classroom. This was in part attributable to the fact that I hadn't unlocked the room before I left(especially embarrassing since I was also late for class--another first). But the size of the group mystified me until one of my colleagues popped out and presented me with a giant check, a la Ed McMahon. A student organization dedicated to the betterment of the school holds regular fundraisers and asks participants to vote for how the money should be spent. $101 in Belgian waffle profits was awarded to the library. I was floored.

Since the money came from students, I've been collecting their suggestions for how to spend it, and they've had some great ones. Today a student came in requesting a magazine. I was preparing to add it to my wish list when he took out his wallet. "The library needs a Photoshop magazine," he told me. "A subscription is $90, so here's $100." My jaw literally dropped.

Even more amazing, he's not a student who I know well or who uses the library regularly. However, he is one of the students who worked on the library promotion project over the summer, so in addition to being an amazing gesture, it was a really nice affirmation of that program.

It's been a semester of crises of confidence, and I've regularly come home questioning my effectiveness as a librarian and as a teacher. This doesn't erase all of those days, but it's definitely helped.