Glen Ellyn Public Library Awarded Curiosity Creates Grant

The Glen Ellyn Public Library was selected to receive $7,500 from the Association Library Services for Children’s Curiosity Creates Grant. The Glen Ellyn Public Library was one of seventy-nine libraries awarded the grant from over 400 submitted applications.

“We are thrilled and incredibly honored to be one of the recipients of this grant,” said Renee Grassi, Youth Department Director. “Because of the Curiosity Creates Grant, we at the Glen Ellyn Public Library will be able to provide more children with opportunities for hands-on experiential learning that will expand their curiosity and enrich their lives.”

The idea for the grant was to develop STEAM Teams, a series of 5 STEAM-based programs geared to fourth and fifth graders. “The library would partner with five local organizations to present fun, interactive programming that allows the kids to learn without even realizing it,” said Melissa Hilt, Youth Department Assistant Director.

The grant will also allow the library to target those Glen Ellyn students that have difficulty with getting to the library, and the library will work closely with the local schools to determine appropriate pick-up locations. The STEAM Team programming will be offered by the library in Spring 2016.

The library choose to apply to the Curiosity Creates Grant because “it allowed us the opportunity to come up with an idea that would promote exploration and discovery in youth programming,” said Hilt. “ALSC was looking to support a program that encourages children to explore, make decisions, collaborate with peers, seek problems and create solutions.”

“The Association for Library Service to Children helps move the profession of children’s librarianship forward in innovative and exciting ways,” stated Grassi.

The Curiosity Creates Grant is made possible by a generous donation to ALSC by Disney©.