Across the county the last month, Sonoma County Library has been offering a series of free back to school events for teachers. This series of open houses are a great opportunity to learn about free resources available to educators that might help enrich your teaching for the year.
The library offers more than you might expect; come in and get up to date with what’s new. In addition, these events offer a chance to renew Educator Cards (or learn about them, if you haven’t already).
Finally, the best resource available from the library is our highly qualified librarians. Get to know Charity and Allison, our youth services librarians in Healdsburg, who make excellent partners in education. Whether you are a power library user or have never visited the library, we’ll have something for you at our back-to-school party, Wednesday, Sept. 26 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Anyone involved in teaching, including homeschool parents and families, are welcome at this free event. The first 50 educators to arrive will also receive a door prize. We look forward to seeing you.
It’s not just educators coming back to school; we have opportunities for students as well. Our occasional “Path to College” series continues with an upcoming workshop, “Demystifying and Simplifying the College Application Process,” on Wednesday, Oct. 3 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
This event is an opportunity to explore college options, choice factors and application strategies that will allow you to approach the process with confidence.
Joseph Heil, a credentialed teacher with a certificate in college counseling, will present the steps in the process and share trusted resources so that you can take with you a plan of action and a timeline to follow. His topics will include testing, college selection, financial aid and essay writing. This event is designed for high school students and their families.
While college admissions are an important and serious step for many teens, sometimes we all need something a little more fun. Lighten the mood this fall with our new series, “Universal Yums Club.”
Teens will enjoy exploring the world every month — from the comfort of our library meeting room — through snack food. Members of this club will discover a new country at every meeting by sampling snacks and candies from that place. We provide the treats; teens need only bring an appetite and a spirit of adventure.
The Universal Yums Club will meet monthly on every fourth Tuesday at 4 p.m. The first meeting will be Sept. 25. Don’t miss this fun (and delicious) opportunity.
Community members of all ages will enjoy our events during Hispanic Heritage Month. On Monday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m., enjoy a performance of Los Reyes Mariachi Quartet. Los Reyes performs a wide variety of styles, representing traditional music from Mexico and across Latin America.
On Friday, Sept. 28 at 4 p.m., we offer an all-ages Frida Kahlo Paint Party. Attending this session will offer guided instruction on how to create a beautiful portrait of Frida Kahlo. This bilingual event, in partnership with Raizes Collective, has limited seating; please call the library or sign up online at sonomalibrary.org to let us know you are coming.
On Saturday, Sept. 29, we offer an informative seminar, “Mexican History in an Hour,” presented by Laura Gonzalez, a 27-year veteran in the classroom with a special interest in history and genealogy of her ancestral homeland of Mexico.
Although it’s still a month off, we also want to let you know about an upcoming date of interest. This year’s election day, Nov. 6, also happens to be the 30th anniversary of the Healdsburg Regional Library opening in its current building.
To commemorate this happy occasion, we will team up with the Friends of Healdsburg Library to offer a party on Monday night, November 5, at 6 p.m. This event will be sure to please a crowd, with food, speakers, shared memories, and music of the 1980s all on offer.
Keep that in mind and we’ll send out more information as the date nears. In the meantime, come by and enjoy a good read. We’re always glad to see you.
Jon Haupt is the branch manager of the Healdsburg Regional Library.
