Introduction to

Lara Walker

I graduated from Kent State University in May, 2006 with a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science and an Ohio School Library Media License (K-12). This website was completed for an Instructional Technology class in Computer Applications, but I have decided to maintain it for fun.

I have a daughter, Olivia (5), and two stepsons, Ben (20) and Stephen (18). Olivia will be going to kindergarten in the fall, Ben will be a junior at Boston University, and Stephen will be a high school senior. My husband, Doug, is a pilot and sells airplanes (the Columbia 350 and 400). I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, but was born and raised in Northern Ontario, Canada. If you have ever traveled across Canada, you have probably passed through my hometown, Bruce Mines. In spite of its size (600 people), they have an amazing museum, where I spent many summers working when I was in university.

Olivia and I made this “pig in the mud”

fruit salad two summers ago.

I had heard about a watermelon-carving

website and just had to try it out.

Yes, that is a monkey on my head. I was in the

Amazon Rainforest.

This one was pretty tame, having been sort of

adopted as the camp mascot.

 Education and

Work Experience

After receiving my B.A. (Honors in English and History) and B.Ed. (7-12 English and History) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, I spent 2 years teaching English and psychology in Medellin, Colombia. I had an incredible time working and traveling throughout South America. Some of  my students were bilingual, but many could not understand a word that I said. I found myself teaching ESL without any ESL training and without too many resources. It was truly a learning experience! For a look at my complete resume, click here.

Where I Am Now

After my 2-year contract in Medellin was completed, I moved to Cincinnati and got married. While in Colombia, I had met someone (not a Colombian, as you might expect, but an American). It took awhile to get American citizenship and then to become certified to teach in Ohio. I decided to be a substitute teacher before looking for a full-time teaching job. I was in a long-term substitute position for 8^th grade social studies when I became pregnant with my daughter, Olivia.

I remained on the substitute list in my district of Mariemont, Ohio, for the first 3 years of my daughter’s life, and ended up in a long-term position in the high school media center in the spring of 2004. I loved it! Emily Colpi, the media specialist on maternity leave, recommended that I look into the distance education program offered through Kent State, and that’s how I got the push I needed to realize a lifelong dream of becoming a school librarian. I completed another long-term maternity leave for Emily in the fall of 2005, and in the spring of 2006 I did my internship with her. It was so exciting to put all of my newly learned library and information skills to use! Click here to see the Collection Development Policy that I created for Mariemont City School Libraries.

I was recently hired by Western Hills University High School and Western Hills Design Technology High School in Cincinnati. The library is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to begin. I'll be working very hard to get the library automated and updated, collaborating with the teachers, and teaching information literacy skills to the students.

New Year's Eve, 1999.