Brenna Mills and Corinne Brandriff are librarians at Hazelwood West High School. Their passion and love for reading books started at a very young age. They spend most of their time in the West Library helping students find certain books and, of course, fixing Chromebooks as well.
Being the oldest child by six years, Mills felt she didn’t have anyone to hang out with, so she turned to her books for companionship. That companionship evolved into her lifelong love, even though her siblings eventually came into this world.
“I read all the time. I am the oldest by six years, so I didn’t have anyone to play with, so I just read.” Mills said.
Brandriff started working at West High in 2007 and only started working as a librarian last year, this being her second year. After 20 years in the district, her mission is to spread the word that books can still be loved.
“I guess for the same reason. I like recommending to kids so they can have the same passion and interest as me. And getting kids to like what they’re reading.” Brandriff said.
The students at West High are impacted by people and things every day. The librarians happen to have a strong impact by being that one person to talk to books about if your friends don’t read.
“Working as a librarian, we get to know students on a more personal level. A student and I get to talk about interests and what we like to read.” “You gotta be in tune with what the kids are into.” Mills and Brandriff said.
A good librarian doesn’t just check in and out books for students. A good librarian is someone who wants to give their personal opinion on books when a student comes in wanting to read a book, but they don’t know what they want to read.
“We’re here to help. Make that connection to reading again because for you guys a lot of the time you just read stuff for class. We are also here to help you find what genres and authors you like, and introduce you to new things to read.” Mills said.
Hazelwood West High School is a very diverse school and the students read many different genres of books. Genres like horror for halloween, Social Issues for something that they can relate to and romance to just escape reality for a little bit.
“Horror, fantasy, social issues and romance. It kind of changes in what part of the year it is and what we order at the time.” Brandriff and Mills said.
“If you haven’t been to the library yet this year, you need to come in, check it out… and not just for Chromebooks,” Brandriff said.
