YAAS: Black History Month

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

This week, we welcomed Professor Rod Golden from Mesa Community College to do one of his signature interactive lectures. I've had Professor Golden as a program guest before, but it's never gone quite as well as it did tonight. The YAAS members are smart, thoughtful, and insightful, and they really seemed to get a lot out of his presentation. The presentation focused on black inventors, and the professor took care to list many inventions and scientific innovations made my black people over the last several centuries. 

One part of the presentation that seemed to especially strike a chord with our kids was the below list of "cardinal virtues to students" made popular by one black inventor and teacher in particular (forgive me, I don't remember the person's name and wasn't able to find it online). The group spent a large part of the time on these virtues, examining each one individually and applying them to their own lives. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say these virtues could be an entire program in and of themselves. 

Professor Golden has so much knowledge to share. I envision his brain like a big encyclopedia. He can flip to the page for Hariet Tubman, Jimmi Hendrix, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, or any influential African American in any historical time period, and teach you something about that person you didn't know before. He is a joy to speak to, a joy to listen to, and a joy to welcome into our library every once in a while. He says he'd like to come back in the summer, and I can't wait!