Hello, my name is Rhina Barahona. I work at the Milton-Freewater Public Library as an Adult Services Associate. This year I applied for the Reforma scholarship to go to OLA and I got it! I was very excited to be able to attend my very first library conference. I have never worked in a library before so this was a whole new experience for me.
The first day that Erin and I arrived in Eugene that, in itself, was awesome. The atmosphere was fun and the weather was amazing. The first day we attended the conference was Thursday and at first it was overwhelming for me. There were so many people and I didn’t know anyone, so that made it more intimidating for me. After lunch I started to get the hang of things and started meeting more people in my sessions, which was great. Everyone was so nice and helpful and willing to answer questions I had. I learned so much from the sessions I took. Especially the ones about maximizing partnerships and getting involved with other organizations. It’s important to make the effort to go out and let other organizations know that the library is a huge resource for our communities and how we can both benefit from partnering up.
I also really liked the session called “A bright future for every kindergartner.” The program sounds awesome and the ladies that did the session were great. As a Hispanic parent it’s important for me to be involved in my children’s schooling and finding ways to help my kids get the resources that they need to get a better education. Also being able to get my voice out to the other Latino people in my community about how important our voices are in our children’s education is huge for me. What I really loved about this program was how the parents have to be involved. Many parents like to drop off their kids or just sit down and not be involved and these types of programs help parents see how much fun both themselves and their children can have. And parents can get a sense of involvement even if they aren’t fluent in English.
I could go on and on about all the great information that I got out of OLA. Being my first, though I hope not my last, I got great ideas of how I can influence more Latino families to get more involved with their children. Starting at the library and bringing them closer to resources that would be helpful for them and to help them see what more there is available out there and that everyone can succeed at any age.
Check Out Rhina's Featured Reformista post
The first day that Erin and I arrived in Eugene that, in itself, was awesome. The atmosphere was fun and the weather was amazing. The first day we attended the conference was Thursday and at first it was overwhelming for me. There were so many people and I didn’t know anyone, so that made it more intimidating for me. After lunch I started to get the hang of things and started meeting more people in my sessions, which was great. Everyone was so nice and helpful and willing to answer questions I had. I learned so much from the sessions I took. Especially the ones about maximizing partnerships and getting involved with other organizations. It’s important to make the effort to go out and let other organizations know that the library is a huge resource for our communities and how we can both benefit from partnering up.
I also really liked the session called “A bright future for every kindergartner.” The program sounds awesome and the ladies that did the session were great. As a Hispanic parent it’s important for me to be involved in my children’s schooling and finding ways to help my kids get the resources that they need to get a better education. Also being able to get my voice out to the other Latino people in my community about how important our voices are in our children’s education is huge for me. What I really loved about this program was how the parents have to be involved. Many parents like to drop off their kids or just sit down and not be involved and these types of programs help parents see how much fun both themselves and their children can have. And parents can get a sense of involvement even if they aren’t fluent in English.
I could go on and on about all the great information that I got out of OLA. Being my first, though I hope not my last, I got great ideas of how I can influence more Latino families to get more involved with their children. Starting at the library and bringing them closer to resources that would be helpful for them and to help them see what more there is available out there and that everyone can succeed at any age.
Check Out Rhina's Featured Reformista post
RSS Feed
