From the VANTAGE Point: More than a Library

It has been a busy fall in the Vantage Media Center! All Vantage juniors and seniors visited the Media Center for orientation where they learned what services are offered. Students are able to check out books, magazines and newspapers as well as laptop computers and digital cameras. Computers in the Media Center are available for research and class assignments. Instructors often bring their classes to the Media Center for special projects. Students also visit the Media Center during their lunch hour to read magazines, play chess and checkers, or to just "hang out." Readers are invited to join the Media Center book club. For every five books a student reads, he or she is entered into a drawing, held at the end of each nine weeks, for a free book of their choice.

Students who require additional credits in order to graduate are enrolled in the online Virtual Learning system. Training in the use of the system takes place in early fall in the Media Center. Credits are offered in social studies, science, math, English and health. Students are able to work on these courses using any computer with internet access.

In September the Media Center celebrated Banned Books Week, celebrating the freedom to read. Students raced to the Media Center each morning to be the first to answer the Banned Book trivia question read over the morning announcements. Danielle Fraser, an Interactive Media student, was the winner of a book of her choice in the Banned Book drawing.

October brought Teen Read Week with the theme "Books with Bite." Activities were held in the Media Center including reading rewards and check-out promotions. Many students participated in a Pac-Man tournament during their lunch hour. Students also submitted entries for an essay contest where they were asked to read a book and write a persuasive essay encouraging someone else to read their book. The essay contest winner was junior Food Careers student Shelby Quigg from Parkway, who wrote about The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. She received a Halloween gift basket full of prizes.

In November the annual Media Center chess and checkers tournament was held. Students compete during lunchtime with daily winners progressing through a tournament bracket. The final showdown is held between the winners of the two lunch periods. Chess winners this year were two juniors - Jerod Curran, a Health Careers student from Delphos St. Johns and Lincolnview's Maggie Girardot, from Network Systems. Checkers winners were Sam Holley, a junior from Wayne Trace in Interactive Media and Brad Allmandinger, a Van Wert junior in Network Systems.

The always popular Media Center annual holiday book fair will be held December 5th -12th. Books are delivered by Readmore/Brunner News. Staff and students have the opportunity to purchase books, magazines and calendars at 30% off and no tax. It's a great way to encourage reading and to get some Christmas shopping done!

During the 2007-2008 school year, individual students visited the Media Center over 6,000 times. Twenty- four different instructors brought their class to the Media Center for 457 class periods. Books and magazines were checked out or used in the library over 4,600 times. The Vantage Media Center is always a groovy, rockin' and busy place.