Nancy Casarrubias

Milby High School’s library is a place “where learning never ends,” and now, the whole world knows it.

Senior Nancy Casarrubias created a five-minute video showcasing her library (and its librarian, Rowena Verdin) for a digital storytelling contest sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians—and her entry won in the high-school category (grades 9–12).

The contest challenged students to show how their school library/librarian helps advance their education by encouraging them to learn new things, fine-tune their research skills, and discover how to make the most of available resources. The focus of entries was the 2015 School Library Month theme, “Your School Library: Where Learning Never Ends.”

Nancy put together a photo montage set to the 1980’s Tears for Fears hit, “Everybody Wants To Rule the World,” that showcased Verdin’s creative approach to building excitement about reading, including taking pretend “mugshots” of students caught reading controversial literature during Banned Book Week.

“We learn how to evaluate sources of information and the information itself,” wrote Nancy. “We become discriminating users of information, allowing us to form our own opinions.”

As a winner, Nancy will receive a set of books signed by Lauren Myracle, the author who judged the high school entries. You can watch her video here.