This demonstrates what we try to do in our library every day and for every student. Following this event, Alec was invited to speak to the entire CSD staff at our welcome back gathering in July, 2016. He is doing very well in fourth grade. Had I known I would be on YouTube, I would have made sure to wear pants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzqxYJmzz3w. Here is Alec's speech.
My name is Alec Hogben, and I would like to nominate Ms. Zeff for the Extra Mile Award. It's not just that she gives away books, or like teaches you how to type. Its more that she gives away kindness to everyone; she tries to help everyone she can, even if they make mistakes in the library.
When I was in kindergarten, I made a book about butterflies. I really thought it was nice, and I loved it, so I showed it to Ms. Zeff. She actually put it in the library and even put a bar code on it so other students could check it out. Then I got to have it be the book of the week at Community Circle. Looking back on it, I truthfully think that it wasn't like all the other books, I mean it wasn't a professional author or artist, but Ms. Zeff realized I had worked hard on it and she wanted me to feel good. I was so happy I yelled when I got home!
In first grade, Ms. Zeff let me keep a Halloween book about Monster Street for weeks and weeks, even though most other kids weren't allowed to take books home. But she saw how much I loved it, and trusted me to take it home even though I was a first grader who could have ripped it and stuff.
In second grade, it was hard for me to learn to read. I have dyslexia, which makes it much harder, and I needed to do extra work. Ms. Zeff didn't care that I had dyslexia; she just wanted me to have fun and read in the library. So lots of days my teacher would let me go to the library and look at a book for ten minutes. Ms. Zeff would help me choose books every time. I went there A LOT - sometimes even two times a day. Ms. Zeff would always greet me with a nice smile and say, "Alec, I'm happy to see you!" And she always truly was happy to see me - she always greeted me with love. Not like she smiled a fake white smile; she smiled and put warmth and happiness into it.
Finally, in third grade, I still go to the library a lot to work on tests. Ms. Zeff is still greeting me with kindness. Once, even a class came in, and she asked them to not bother me while I was working. When the book fair came around, my mom picked me up just after the fair closed for the last day. There was a book I really wanted, and I ran to the library. Even though the fair was closed, Ms. Zeff acted like it was no problem; she opened the door and let me get the book I had wanted so much even though it was the end of the day. Ms. Zeff told my mom "When I saw Alec's face I knew how much he wanted the book, so even though we were closed I wanted to help him."
To wrap it up, I am going to put this into a couple of sentences. Ms. Zeff is the best media specialist I have ever seen, and every time I go to the library I am so excited. I am going to miss her so much when I go to FAVE but I will never forget her. If I could, I would give her a million dollars or whatever she wanted. But since I can't do that, I hope I can at least give her the Extra Mile Award!
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