September 14, 2025 • 11 mins
Mindy and Mikaela discuss back to school programs and what's happening at a library location nearest to you with Brooke Thomas!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've been back for a few weeks, maybe a month,
(00:02):
but right in there, school's back for everybody. That means
so's the homework it is.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And grades are starting to come in. I think the
end of the grading period. Did I just lose the bracelet?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Endo, The grading period for us is like October sixteenth,
so we've got a month more until those first grades
come in. And Mandy, sometimes it is not easy to
get transitioned back to doing school work at the beginning
of the school year.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
See, I forget about it because my son's twenty three,
my daughter's twenty two. Next month they'll be twenty four
and twenty three. I can't believe I'm that old, but
I forget about it. You still have kids that are
going through the homework thing.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, And if you know, tutoring can be expensive, and
there are some really great opportunities here right in our
backyard to take advantage of before you have to go
that direction. So Brooke Thomas is the K through twelve
School Success leader for Columbus Metropolitan Library, and she joins
us to talk about some of this stuff. Brooke, welcome
to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We are happy that you're here too, especially because you
got those really cool looking is that to help turn
a page better and that would.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Be so wonderful. But I've just recently gotten into audiobooks too,
so it doesn't quite help with that, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
They're awesome. Your her birthday is this week, so happy
early birthday, ladies. So there are so many back to
school programs that you all do, and I don't I mean,
we only have you know, so much time to talk
with you today, but I'd like you to kind of
talk about entering into this world that is the Columbus
Metropolitan Library. And if I'm a parent who's having a
kid who's you know, struggling a little bit at the
(01:32):
start of school, how do I begin to learn about
all you do and what are maybe some of the
popular programs right now?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Absolutely well, first thing always is going to our website
at www dot Columbuslibrary dot org, and that will kind
of tell you what your local branches are doing. But
we've kind of come into this thought process of being
like a one stop shop after school. So we do
have our school help programs which help K through twelve
students if they're working on school work or different assignments
(02:01):
being able to kind of help them through that process.
We do have trained staff members as well as volunteers
to help them with that. But if there is something
that they are specifically working on, like let's say geometry,
that we're not able to assist them with, we do
have a website called brain Fuse that has online tutors
from two pm to eleven pm that we will log
them on and help them kind of work one on
(02:24):
one with them on those very specific core subjects. But additionally,
we have a lot of programs just about connectivity and
kind of just meeting new friends and working through some stuff.
So we have like our Creative Corner at some of
our branches. We have our team create open studios that
have like digital media being able to express your art sides,
(02:45):
and that's at a lot of our branches. After school
and we do have after school snack at seventeen of
our branches and we do serve those between the hours
of about three pm to six pm. We always know
that when kids are coming in after school for them
to do their best work, we're going to be hungry,
so being able to make sure that we are going
to give them unsustainable food that kind of touches all
(03:07):
of the uh the food pyramid chart to fill them
up and making sure they have like a fresh brain
to come and start doing their school work.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And we just go for the snack, nothing else. Come
go for the break it down for us as far
as what does it look like the library to help
those who are elementary age students as opposed to the
middle school and the high school, because I can imagine
every age is different, but they all want the same
kind of help from you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Absolutely. We also have our Reading Buddies program, so that
is happens between two to three times at all of
our branches, and Reading Buddies is K through third grade,
so helping kids develop those literary skills, practicing phonics and
letter recognition and comprehension vocabulary. I'm reading one on one
with a trained specialist for about fifteen minutes to just
(03:58):
kind of build those skills to getting them prepared for
the third grade reading Guarantee as well as the OST's
and then if they're just liking additional reading practice and
reading with somebody, they have those opportunities to do. Now.
Outside of our after school spaces, we do have our
story times and those are usually during the day, and
that is pretty much to get ready for kindergarten. So
(04:20):
focusing on again vocabulary, letter of recognition, a lot of songs,
a lot of rhyming, a lot of puppets which we
absolutely love. But still so our birth to five ages
are able to participate in a lot of our programmings too.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I want to go back to Reading Buddies because I've
been seeing some like troubling stats about kids and reading
in math, and I'm wondering if the foundation isn't what
it needs to be, especially for some of those who
are now getting into junior high in high school. And
we're talking about some of the kids who during the pandemic,
they were, you know, virtually learning. So how do people
(04:58):
are people taking advantage? I'm sure you we want more
people to take advantage of Reading Buddies because I think
it could be a game changer for these kids. How
do you how do you get more people in to
take advantage? Like what have you found to be successful
getting the word out and getting people in.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
We love to go to a community event. We love
to like we say, drive people to our website, having
these moments right here to talk to people about it
because one of my jobs I do look at the
stats all the time and it is one of the
things that is very concerning. So just being able to
talk to parents and giving them also the verbiage and
the confidence to work with their students too, just letting
(05:35):
them know, just reading with them at night, having a
bedtime story. I am a bit older, so we used
to read like the box of cereal in the morning.
Just putting literary literacy in their day every single day.
So with reading Buddies, after we do the fifteen minutes
with our students, we do go back to the parents
and say, this is the book that we read, these
(05:56):
are the skills that we worked on, and here are
some ways that you can work on these skills at home.
So parents do have the opportunity to kind of hear
about different activities that you can do outside of the
branch and you don't have to be trained on them.
They could take five minutes at home, you can do
them in the car ride. But being able just to
kind of come into the branch, have people that are
there for you and saying here you you know, brought
(06:19):
your student. You read with them for fifteen minutes. But
now let's continue the progress at home too.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Did you say you're a little bit older?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Then I smile.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I know you're not looking at me.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You're a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Younger than me. But who isn't these days? A question
for you, Brooke is, let's say someone's listening right now
and they really want to go to the Columbus Metropolitan
Library to get their kids some help. Do they need
to have a library card?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That is a great question. You do not now to
sign up for programs. We will sign them up at
the branch. But we do have different types of library cards.
So if anyone is listening and their child goes to
Columbus City schools, they have what is called the Student
Success Card, So the ID that they have that signs
in for lunch. If they are high school, they ride
(07:07):
the bus, that number is their library card. But we
also have our Kids Card that kids are able to
come in. All they really have to do their name,
their birthday, with school they go to, and they are
able to use the computers, go to any program as
well as check out five books and lose five books
a year two and then we don't charge them for it.
(07:27):
So we've made sure that library cards are going to
be very accessible for our kids. So if they don't
have one, please come in and we would love to
sign you up for one. We honestly tell people it's
literally zero to forever. So we've had babies come in
at like, you know, one week old and they sign
up for their first library card. So yes, I love
(07:48):
those moments too. But yes, absolutely you do have to
sign into programs. But if you have fines on your card,
that does not stop you at all from being a
part of our school programs, being a part of reading buddies,
being a part of our team create open studios, or
just getting a snack. To get a snack, you don't
have to have our library card. You just have to
(08:08):
eat it in the room and then you can just leave.
That is it. We will never deny a student zero
between eighteen to come into our libraries and get a snack.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I am in geometry here, Mindy, and I haven't shared
this with you yet, but this is sophomore year.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
This is geometry year.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So when she said geometry help, we're already there, book girl, Like,
we're already there based on what I'm getting through home access.
So what you said that brain fuse is available so
something on very specific subjects from two p to eleven peah,
But you guys aren't open until eleven P, so kids
can access this at home. Talk a little more about that,
(08:46):
because maybe I don't have to come into the branch
to do everything that I can utilize. You know what
you guys have.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Online absolutely, So again, if you go to Columbuslibrary dot
org and you click on school help, there is a
page at the bottom and it will say brain fuse.
So let's say you have a very specific question. Again,
we'll use geometry and you just kind of type it
into a chat. There will be online tutors from two
pm to eleven PM and they'll kind of help walk
(09:13):
you through that process. So step by step, these are
the formulas you need for geometry. This is how we're
going to work through that program. Excuse me that problem
and then specifically give you examples too to kind of
go with that too. So not just helping you with
that one specific problem, but let's make sure you actually
know when this comes across again, how to get through it.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Broock, what's your favorite thing about working at the library.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Oh, I don't think you all have enough time on
your radio to talk about it. Goodness. I love helping people,
I love giving people resources. I of course work in
youth services, so getting children excited about literacy always just
makes me smile. Even on the hardest days. You're like, okay,
(09:59):
but I love into work every single day. This is
what I was made to do. So, yeah, I guess
if that was going to be my elevator pitch. It's
just getting kids excited to read and knowing you have
the capability to do it.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well, You're lucky to have you.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, your elevator pitch is your energy, like an energizer.
Bunny and those nails. Thank you so much for coming
in and sharing all that you did. Is there anything
coming up in the next two months as we get
deeper into school that we should know about or just
kind of just keep it locked on the school help
centers and the website.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Absolutely, As of right now, like starting September seventeenth, on Wednesday,
we do have what's called our Jazz Lab that's going
to be at our Parsons brand. It's a four week
program that engages STEM with live jazz music. So they
do bring live jazz musicians to talk about music engineering.
But then also as we're going kind of into spooky
(10:55):
season in October. We do have different programs at our branches.
So again, if you go to Columbus Library or you
can see all the amazing programs that we're going to
have coming up throughout the holidays.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You're the best.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, I appreciate you. Lady. Happy early birthday, Like
Speaker 2 (11:10):
This is what matters on six ten WTVN
I've been back for a few weeks, maybe a month,
(00:02):
but right in there, school's back for everybody. That means
so's the homework it is.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And grades are starting to come in. I think the
end of the grading period. Did I just lose the bracelet?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Endo, The grading period for us is like October sixteenth,
so we've got a month more until those first grades
come in. And Mandy, sometimes it is not easy to
get transitioned back to doing school work at the beginning
of the school year.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
See, I forget about it because my son's twenty three,
my daughter's twenty two. Next month they'll be twenty four
and twenty three. I can't believe I'm that old, but
I forget about it. You still have kids that are
going through the homework thing.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, And if you know, tutoring can be expensive, and
there are some really great opportunities here right in our
backyard to take advantage of before you have to go
that direction. So Brooke Thomas is the K through twelve
School Success leader for Columbus Metropolitan Library, and she joins
us to talk about some of this stuff. Brooke, welcome
to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We are happy that you're here too, especially because you
got those really cool looking is that to help turn
a page better and that would.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Be so wonderful. But I've just recently gotten into audiobooks too,
so it doesn't quite help with that, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
They're awesome. Your her birthday is this week, so happy
early birthday, ladies. So there are so many back to
school programs that you all do, and I don't I mean,
we only have you know, so much time to talk
with you today, but I'd like you to kind of
talk about entering into this world that is the Columbus
Metropolitan Library. And if I'm a parent who's having a
kid who's you know, struggling a little bit at the
(01:32):
start of school, how do I begin to learn about
all you do and what are maybe some of the
popular programs right now?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Absolutely well, first thing always is going to our website
at www dot Columbuslibrary dot org, and that will kind
of tell you what your local branches are doing. But
we've kind of come into this thought process of being
like a one stop shop after school. So we do
have our school help programs which help K through twelve
students if they're working on school work or different assignments
(02:01):
being able to kind of help them through that process.
We do have trained staff members as well as volunteers
to help them with that. But if there is something
that they are specifically working on, like let's say geometry,
that we're not able to assist them with, we do
have a website called brain Fuse that has online tutors
from two pm to eleven pm that we will log
them on and help them kind of work one on
(02:24):
one with them on those very specific core subjects. But additionally,
we have a lot of programs just about connectivity and
kind of just meeting new friends and working through some stuff.
So we have like our Creative Corner at some of
our branches. We have our team create open studios that
have like digital media being able to express your art sides,
(02:45):
and that's at a lot of our branches. After school
and we do have after school snack at seventeen of
our branches and we do serve those between the hours
of about three pm to six pm. We always know
that when kids are coming in after school for them
to do their best work, we're going to be hungry,
so being able to make sure that we are going
to give them unsustainable food that kind of touches all
(03:07):
of the uh the food pyramid chart to fill them
up and making sure they have like a fresh brain
to come and start doing their school work.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And we just go for the snack, nothing else. Come
go for the break it down for us as far
as what does it look like the library to help
those who are elementary age students as opposed to the
middle school and the high school, because I can imagine
every age is different, but they all want the same
kind of help from you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Absolutely. We also have our Reading Buddies program, so that
is happens between two to three times at all of
our branches, and Reading Buddies is K through third grade,
so helping kids develop those literary skills, practicing phonics and
letter recognition and comprehension vocabulary. I'm reading one on one
with a trained specialist for about fifteen minutes to just
(03:58):
kind of build those skills to getting them prepared for
the third grade reading Guarantee as well as the OST's
and then if they're just liking additional reading practice and
reading with somebody, they have those opportunities to do. Now.
Outside of our after school spaces, we do have our
story times and those are usually during the day, and
that is pretty much to get ready for kindergarten. So
(04:20):
focusing on again vocabulary, letter of recognition, a lot of songs,
a lot of rhyming, a lot of puppets which we
absolutely love. But still so our birth to five ages
are able to participate in a lot of our programmings too.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I want to go back to Reading Buddies because I've
been seeing some like troubling stats about kids and reading
in math, and I'm wondering if the foundation isn't what
it needs to be, especially for some of those who
are now getting into junior high in high school. And
we're talking about some of the kids who during the pandemic,
they were, you know, virtually learning. So how do people
(04:58):
are people taking advantage? I'm sure you we want more
people to take advantage of Reading Buddies because I think
it could be a game changer for these kids. How
do you how do you get more people in to
take advantage? Like what have you found to be successful
getting the word out and getting people in.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
We love to go to a community event. We love
to like we say, drive people to our website, having
these moments right here to talk to people about it
because one of my jobs I do look at the
stats all the time and it is one of the
things that is very concerning. So just being able to
talk to parents and giving them also the verbiage and
the confidence to work with their students too, just letting
(05:35):
them know, just reading with them at night, having a
bedtime story. I am a bit older, so we used
to read like the box of cereal in the morning.
Just putting literary literacy in their day every single day.
So with reading Buddies, after we do the fifteen minutes
with our students, we do go back to the parents
and say, this is the book that we read, these
(05:56):
are the skills that we worked on, and here are
some ways that you can work on these skills at home.
So parents do have the opportunity to kind of hear
about different activities that you can do outside of the
branch and you don't have to be trained on them.
They could take five minutes at home, you can do
them in the car ride. But being able just to
kind of come into the branch, have people that are
there for you and saying here you you know, brought
(06:19):
your student. You read with them for fifteen minutes. But
now let's continue the progress at home too.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Did you say you're a little bit older?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Then I smile.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I know you're not looking at me.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You're a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Younger than me. But who isn't these days? A question
for you, Brooke is, let's say someone's listening right now
and they really want to go to the Columbus Metropolitan
Library to get their kids some help. Do they need
to have a library card?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That is a great question. You do not now to
sign up for programs. We will sign them up at
the branch. But we do have different types of library cards.
So if anyone is listening and their child goes to
Columbus City schools, they have what is called the Student
Success Card, So the ID that they have that signs
in for lunch. If they are high school, they ride
(07:07):
the bus, that number is their library card. But we
also have our Kids Card that kids are able to
come in. All they really have to do their name,
their birthday, with school they go to, and they are
able to use the computers, go to any program as
well as check out five books and lose five books
a year two and then we don't charge them for it.
(07:27):
So we've made sure that library cards are going to
be very accessible for our kids. So if they don't
have one, please come in and we would love to
sign you up for one. We honestly tell people it's
literally zero to forever. So we've had babies come in
at like, you know, one week old and they sign
up for their first library card. So yes, I love
(07:48):
those moments too. But yes, absolutely you do have to
sign into programs. But if you have fines on your card,
that does not stop you at all from being a
part of our school programs, being a part of reading buddies,
being a part of our team create open studios, or
just getting a snack. To get a snack, you don't
have to have our library card. You just have to
(08:08):
eat it in the room and then you can just leave.
That is it. We will never deny a student zero
between eighteen to come into our libraries and get a snack.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I am in geometry here, Mindy, and I haven't shared
this with you yet, but this is sophomore year.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
This is geometry year.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So when she said geometry help, we're already there, book girl, Like,
we're already there based on what I'm getting through home access.
So what you said that brain fuse is available so
something on very specific subjects from two p to eleven peah,
But you guys aren't open until eleven P, so kids
can access this at home. Talk a little more about that,
(08:46):
because maybe I don't have to come into the branch
to do everything that I can utilize. You know what
you guys have.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Online absolutely, So again, if you go to Columbuslibrary dot
org and you click on school help, there is a
page at the bottom and it will say brain fuse.
So let's say you have a very specific question. Again,
we'll use geometry and you just kind of type it
into a chat. There will be online tutors from two
pm to eleven PM and they'll kind of help walk
(09:13):
you through that process. So step by step, these are
the formulas you need for geometry. This is how we're
going to work through that program. Excuse me that problem
and then specifically give you examples too to kind of
go with that too. So not just helping you with
that one specific problem, but let's make sure you actually
know when this comes across again, how to get through it.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Broock, what's your favorite thing about working at the library.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Oh, I don't think you all have enough time on
your radio to talk about it. Goodness. I love helping people,
I love giving people resources. I of course work in
youth services, so getting children excited about literacy always just
makes me smile. Even on the hardest days. You're like, okay,
(09:59):
but I love into work every single day. This is
what I was made to do. So, yeah, I guess
if that was going to be my elevator pitch. It's
just getting kids excited to read and knowing you have
the capability to do it.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well, You're lucky to have you.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, your elevator pitch is your energy, like an energizer.
Bunny and those nails. Thank you so much for coming
in and sharing all that you did. Is there anything
coming up in the next two months as we get
deeper into school that we should know about or just
kind of just keep it locked on the school help
centers and the website.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Absolutely, As of right now, like starting September seventeenth, on Wednesday,
we do have what's called our Jazz Lab that's going
to be at our Parsons brand. It's a four week
program that engages STEM with live jazz music. So they
do bring live jazz musicians to talk about music engineering.
But then also as we're going kind of into spooky
(10:55):
season in October. We do have different programs at our branches.
So again, if you go to Columbus Library or you
can see all the amazing programs that we're going to
have coming up throughout the holidays.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You're the best.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, I appreciate you. Lady. Happy early birthday, Like
Speaker 2 (11:10):
This is what matters on six ten WTVN
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