The Reference Desk

Thank you all for a successful school year and being such a wonderful team to work with!

Our end of the year slides are linked below with reminders for end of the year tasks and I'm here through June 13th if you need anything - but you should be well into your summer break by then!

I'll see everyone in July on District Contact Day, scheduled for July 30th. Be on the lookout for a calendar invite.

Congrats again to our retirees - please see their highlights below!

It has been a privilege to work in the Muscogee County School District for 25 years. My first 10 years were spent at East Columbus Magnet Academy, first as a Title I Math teacher until in Year 6 I took the Media Specialist.

Special memories at ECMA include celebrating Veterans Day by reading America’s White Table by Margot Theis Raven, a tradition brought to my attention by former ECMA Media Specialist Elizabeth Van Pate. I continued to read it each year at Richards. Another favorite memory is the year a couple of Columbus Cottonmouth players and I read Hooray for Diffendoofer Day as we celebrated Read Across America. Finally, I had my first introduction to Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl at ECMA. Here we are in the 2010 HRRB Bowl up against my future team, Richards Middle School.

In 2011, I transferred to Richards Middle School, where I have spent the last 15 years. Some of the highlights in the media center have been a couple of edible book festivals. While my makerspace has been a work in progress, students have enjoyed creating Traveling Murals, Stick Together posters, Puzzles and Lego.

In Fall 2019, I started working with Robotics. I assisted in coaching one FLL team and one FTC team. After COVID, my fellow coach and I dropped the FTC team and added another FLL, which I coached through the 2023-2024 school year. In February 2022, I was honored to receive the Georgia FLL Coach/Mentor Award after being nominated by Dr. Cross at the Coca Cola Space Science Center. It was always fun hanging out with colleagues like Rebecca Haskey at robotics competitions.

Lastly, Reading Bowl and Junior Tome Society... When MCSD Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl first started, it was just middle schools participating. The “good old days” when MCSD supplied us with multiple copies of the titles. We would divvy up the titles and share practice questions with each other to help our students compete. Once I moved to Richards, our team got on a winning streak. Some of you know that secretly, I really longed for the MCSD 3rd place trophy each year. Thankfully a more competitive teacher has taken it on in the last few years. Maybe one day, Richard will earn that elusive state HRRB title. But what a joy to work with many fantastic students, so excited about reading and competing.

While Junior Tome Society has not been as popular as Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, I’ve enjoyed working with students on several projects and attending a few TomeCons, including this year’s event. My Junior Tome reading bowl student placed first in the online reading bowl competition this year, so he was invited to compete in person against three other middle schools at TomeCon 2026. He was thrilled to meet his favorite author, Gordon Korman and I enjoyed meeting Jennifer Neilsen.

Finally, I just want to say how much I have enjoyed getting to know all my fellow media specialists in Muscogee County. I appreciate all the support you have given me throughout the years.

“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web

Years of Service

1993-2002 Hardaway High School, English Teacher, Grades 9-12

2002-2004 Baker Middle School, Media Specialist

2004-2026 Fort Middle School, Media Specialist

Awards

2013 Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl 2nd Place

2013 West Region District Competition

2015 Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl 3rd Place

District Committees

District Challenged Book Committee (2009)

Cluster Chair, Middle School Media Specialists

Favorite Books

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

Outliers Malcolm Gladwell

The Warmth of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson

Favorite Quotes

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”. Albert Einstein

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." George R.R. Martin

After 22 years as a media specialist, it is hard to say goodbye to a profession that has meant so much to me. I was blessed to spend my first three years at Jordan High School back when high schools had two media specialists. It made my transition from teacher to media specialist seamless. For the past 19 years I've been at Johnson Elementary School, where I found not only a career, but a second home.

Being a media specialist has always been about more than books. It has been about creating a place where students feel welcomed, encouraged, and inspired to learn and grow. The memories, relationships, and moments shared over the years will always hold a special place in my heart.

To those continuing this important work, thank you. Keep sharing your love of reading and learning, and never underestimate the impact you make each day. What you do truly matters.

Shannon Cardinal

Students and employees who document their school location (or MCPEC) will be acknowledged for their participation!

Don't forget to grab some glue strips for the Cover One! And maybe add some hinge tape for reinforcement!

All together, we circulated over half a million books to students, including over 55,000 books in Sora!

We collaborated with thousands of classes and organized hundreds of special events.

I won't even mention all the Chromebook tickets... 😉

Way to go, LuAnn! (and CUTE graphics again this year!)

Cynthia had a goal this year to increase her circulation by 3% and she was able to increase it by over 4%! She's also been sharing various programming opportunities with me throughout the year to include public library collabs, reading challenges, and these awesome graduation caps that are being displayed in the library! Congratulations, Cynthia!

Loryn Konze, our new BDMA Librarian survived her very first year in the library... and did so in style! BDMA broke their own record by circulating 40,556 books, which is almost 3,000 more than last year. She'll also be finishing up her certification this summer. So many things to celebrate!

Georgetown, coached by Amy, placed FIRST in the 4th/5th Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl competitions!

They went on to place 4th in the state!

47 of Midland's scholars have taken a step towards being poets! These students used AI to learn about haikus, and then used Google Docs to create their own haikus. Each student submitted their poem to the Young American Poetry Digest. They will be featured in the 2026 edition released later this year in November.

Jordan had 6,063 books circulated this school year, which is a huge improvement compared to previous years. Amanda started monthly book club meetings again with CVL (previously postponed due to Covid and other scheduling conflicts), and they even did blind dates with books at one of those meetings.

Jordan was also selected to host Holes author, Louis Sachar, which was a rare and exciting treat, and Amanda also completed her Tier I leadership certification in December!

Nicole introduced One School, One Book to her school this year. They read The Biggest Snowman Ever. Mayor Skip Henderson came to kickoff our event by reading the first few pages and talk about the importance of teamwork. Dr. Lewis was also present and offered a few words of inspiration.

On a personal note, Nicole's oldest daughter is experiencing France by working the Cannes Film Festival. Her youngest daughter is in Arizona with the CSU Women’s Tennis Team competing at Nationals at the DII NCAA level! Way to go!

This was Liz's first year as the librarian at Columbus and she jumped right in with some awesome library programming!

Just a few of the student and staff favorites at Columbus High this year:

• Monthly student book clubs
• Started a monthly book club for faculty
• Fictional Villains Library Scavenger Hunt
• Holiday book exchange
• Blind Date with a Book
• AP World History collaboration: Cold War Escape Room using library resources
• Weekly book read and activity with Ready For Life Kids, including collaboration with the art teacher to make pinch pots

• I did another heavy weed this year to keep my average collection age at 2011 (within the recommended 15 years age range).
• Although we are not “genrefied” yet, I have added genre labels to many of my fiction books (historical Fiction, adventure, fantasy, mystery, romance, horror, scary, dystopian, sports, and graphic novels) to help students find books that interest them.
• Had a successful Scholastic Book Fair with a profit over $1,000 with almost 200 books sold to students.
• Was able to purchase improved signage to better assist students in locating books in the media center.
• Worked with the public library (CVL) for research skills with our 6th grade social studies students participating in National History Day. I believe one of our students placed 2nd on their paper. Additionally, CVL helped set up all of our 6th grade students in the Bean Stack App to have them ready for the 2026 Summer Reading Challenge.
• We hosted our 3rd annual ACMS STEAM Night back in March that showcased 17 different groups/organizations (CVL was one of the groups 😊) who provided different activities for our students to participated in. Over 100+ of our students and their families attended.
• We placed 1st Runner Up with the Chamber of Commerce in the PIE Awards for our Career Mentorship Program with Pratt & Whitney. I worked with our 8th grade science teacher, Mr. Fuller, to select eight 8th grade students who attended 4 sessions (2 @ ACMS and the other 2 at P&W). The last session included a tour of the Columbus Engine Center. This program better prepared our students for aligning their goals towards their career interests, working on their interviewing skills, resume building, and spotlighting local aviation careers.

Email: Brookins.Jamie.M@muscogee.k12.ga.us
Phone: 706-748-2157