Story and photos by Ina Dash, Genevieve Carrillo,
& the RecTech Teen Photojournalism Internship
Special to West Seattle Blog

Many flights were taken at the Delridge Library one recent day.

Cut-up pieces of colored paper lay scattered on the floor, as kids constructed a variety of handmade paper airplanes and rockets and took them for test flights outside the library doors.

This summer, the library has teamed up with the Museum of Flight to create a summer program that helps kids around the community express their creativity while learning about aviation. A communications officer at the Delridge Library, Cheresse Thoeny, noticed that “we… [had] …a lot of boys in this neighborhood” and wanted to find something “interesting to kids of all different ages” to bring the community together.

On site was Museum of Flight coordinator, Stephanie Jones-Gunn. She also sees the program as an opportunity for education, allowing “kids to learn to create things that can fly with just two pieces of paper.” With a few supplies and some adult instruction, children quickly learn the basics of aerodynamics and are encouraged to use their imagination. The Museum of Flight also offers family workshops on the weekends, touching on subjects from parachutes and rockets to the Blue Angels.

Parents attending the workshop expressed enthusiasm for their kids’ interests. That included Xiaolan Chen, a local mother, who said that her oldest son was absolutely fascinated with airplanes. “He’s very enthusiastic about this event. He came home the day he read about it and listed it on our calendar right away!” she said. Gina, another mother present, was informed about the program through the library and the summer reading program. She stated that her children love to read, so they spend a lot of their free time at the library. She had her two little boys with her who she said begged her to take them to the event. Miles, her oldest son, thought the program was “cool” despite not being an airplane aficionado.

Bryce, age 9 and an avid paper plane maker, was here with a camp group. Having made airplanes on a regular basis in her free time, she was very confident about making them. Keiyana, age 11, on the other hand, was going into the library and stumbled into the Museum of Flight’s Paper Airplane Workshop. She was very interested in planes and when asked about them, said, “Airplanes are very cool to learn about.”

Every year, the library tries to find new ways to attract kids to books and reading. “We have a lot of books on airplanes. Summer programs offset summer setbacks. Kids forget things over the summer and these programs start them back to school with an advantage,” Thoeny said. The library also rewards kids, teens and adults with prizes for reading books in the summer.

This year’s goal for the library is around 6,000 books read, which is about twice that of any other Seattle public library. What’s the librarian’s method for getting kids to read? “Let them read what they want and support it. Animate the story, if you’re enthusiastic, the kids will get excited.”

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This is the second summer the RecTech internship program is contributing to WSB. Read more about it here.