Media specialists Nikki Lukkarinen and Melissa McCallar recently were recognized for Bradwell’s Exemplary Library Media Program.
The specialists were recognized at the April meeting of the Liberty County Board of Education.
Being selected as the Liberty County Exemplary Library Media Program enables Lukkarinen and McCallar to compete in a statewide competition sponsored by the Georgia Library Media Association and the Georgia Library Association.  They will complete a written application, submit letters of support from media program patrons and administrators, and participate in a possible telephone or on-site interview.
Each year, school media committees across Georgia are asked to evaluate their media programs in areas such as the level of instructional collaboration with teachers.  The degrees to which the media program fosters critical thinking, teaches information literacy, and supports and integrates the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and Georgia Performance Standard in instruction are all considered.  
The rubric also assesses the level of flexible scheduling of the media center, and its accessibility to students and staff throughout the instructional day.  The use of technology by the media program also is evaluated.  For example, the level to which the media program has promoted and provided instruction with tools such as Georgia’s Virtual Library, GALILEO, with students and staff is assessed.  
The media specialists at BI have collaborated on instruction and assisting students with the use of technology.  This year, 15 student media projects were entered into the county level media festival, and 14 of the 15 advanced to the Georgia Student Media Festival.
In addition to their media festival success, students at Bradwell Institute have used reading and working as a team to achieve reading bowl accolades. Bradwell’s Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team earned second place at the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Competition earlier this year at the University of Georgia in Athens.  Students at large have seen the impact of the winning duo in the colorful transformation of the media center and the addition of e-book reading-lounge areas.  
The pair also roll a mobile book checkout cart into the lunchroom and join students and teachers in their classrooms to provide instruction on technology tools such as iMovie and Prezi for student projects.