Mondays during lunch, 20 ninth grade students pack into to Pritzker Traubert Family Library conference room for their weekly High School Library Advisory Board meeting. They discuss ways to make the library amore comforting, homey space.

This is the first year students have successfully transitioned from being a part of the middle school board to the high school.

“My friends and I created HLAB because we did MLAB, the middle school version,” President Inga Domineck explained. “In MLAB, the majority of the members were 8th graders. Last year we heard stories about people trying to make the club but never continuing it. We decided to make this club in high school and because there are so many of us, we thought we could keep it going.”

Since the beginning of the school year, the board members have had an ongoing agenda they want to turn into reality. So far, they have decorated the library for holidays, come up with new ideas for book displays and have decided to soon get a pet turtle. The board held a naming contest for the turtle Dec. 10.

“I’m really happy with the interest in HLAB,” Librarian Susan Augustine said.  “To me, a lot of it seems social but at the same time, the students are very productive and have continued to push for the library to be a more welcoming place.”

Ms. Augustine said all students are welcome to be a part of HLAB. If interested, they can talk her or to Inga.