In the beginning of the 2023-2024 Bonita Vista High (BVH) school year, Adrienne Marriott, previously an Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES) and Zoology and Botany teacher, was hired as a new librarian at BVH, superseding librarian Mary Aruil. Marriott now works in the BVH library from 1st to 5th period and teaches Earth Science for her 6th.
Marriott expressed interest in becoming BVH’s librarian after hearing that Aruil relocated to Castle Park High. She has former experience with working as a librarian throughout her high school years and first few years in college, so she considered taking up the position.
“When I heard that our former librarian had just moved to a different school in the district, I talked to [Principal Lee] Romero and I shared with him that I love libraries and that was my very first real job,” Marriott said. “Starting after my sophomore year in high school and all throughout my undergraduate career at Illinois State, I worked at my public library.”
Marriott has been a teacher for several years and specifically taught science for twelve years, so Marriott took advantage of the job opening. Marriott communicates that with her former experience as a librarian, this would be a great opportunity to try something new here at BVH.
“Spending a lot of time in libraries—just growing up as a kid—I thought that it would be a really cool opportunity to come full circle and try something new [at BVH],” Marriott said.
Although Marriott is working in the library for the 2023-2024 school year, she currently only possesses a General Education Limited Assignment Teaching Permit (GELAP) which allows her to work as a librarian for a year. In order to become a full-time librarian, Romero states that Marriott needs to earn the proper certifications.
“She has to go back to school and get her librarian credential this year and hopefully become our full time librarian next year. It’s called the GELAP credential, which allows her to be a librarian for one year, but during this time, she has to start going back to school to become a librarian,” Romero said.
Becoming a librarian meant dropping classes to work in the library, a sacrifice that Marriott knew she would have to make. Despite this, Marriott chose to leave behind the classroom to pursue a career as a librarian, although she expresses that she will miss the interactions she has with her students and the experiences she’s had while teaching.
“I teach science because I love science and I’m always learning something new and I’m excited about it. I hear things on the news on the way to school and I share them in class [which] I love that kind of [interaction]. [My students and I] have some good laughs and it’s nice to see them, so I do miss that aspect a little bit,” Marriott said.
Romero shares similar views with Marriott as a former teacher himself, stating that building connections with students is a lot easier when daily interactions with students are a given.
“I think she’s going to miss being in a classroom because when you’re not in a classroom, you miss that daily interaction with students. In a library, you could still have interaction with students, but not at the same level that you do as a teacher,” Romero said. “So there’s a lot to be said about teaching being a great job because you get to form these wonderful bonds with students and when you’re outside of that, it is difficult.”
Despite the loss in student connections and such a drastic change in work environments, Romero believes Marriott is well-equipped to handle and adapt to the change, stating that she will perform well as a librarian.
“I think she’ll do fine. In life, when you’re given an opportunity and you’re excited about something, that’s a good thing. I think she is going to have a hard time the first year, but I think she’ll be able to stick it out because she wants to try something different,” Romero said.
Marriott believes that libraries have changed drastically over the years and there has been a loss of understanding of a library’s purpose. Marriott believes that many students view the school library as a place to check out textbooks and not as a community space, which is something that she wants to change about the library.
“Students don’t check out books [from the library] other than their textbooks very much at all, so I think it is a really unique opportunity to help figure out what the library should be. I would love to see the library grow into something that’s more of a community space; not about being silent and checking out books, [I want] to see more groups of students in here working on a project or having club meetings.” Marriott said.
Marriott still teaches in room 408 for her Earth Science class during 6th period but no longer teaches APES or Zoology and Botany. Zoology and Botany teacher Priscilla McClain now teaches in Marriott’s classroom, something that she is very excited about.
“Personally, I couldn’t be more excited. The botany course, in particular, is a class I have dreamt about teaching when I first started teaching and I was so excited to hear Mrs. Marriott had created this course,” McClain said. “She was moving over and offered me the courses and asked me to help her out and take over. She’s still definitely here helping me just like when I first started teaching.”
McClain has full faith in Marriott’s decision and she also shares similar sentiments with Romero. She believes Marriott will do well in her new position and that she has the power to transform the library environment into something new and welcoming.
“I think she’s going to be phenomenal. She is already talking about how to improve the library and she’s asked other teachers how they think it could be improved. I think she’ll make it a space that is more than just a place you go twice a year to get a book and turn it in,” McClain said. “She’s going to create a space where you’ll want to go to study and a place you will want to go when you need a space to get away. I think it’ll be a really welcoming environment.”
