Students at St. Michael School in Penn Yan were treated to a surprise when they walked into the school’s library at the start of the new school year.
Over the summer, the library had received a facelift, courtesy of 13-year-old alum Olivia Gruschow and a team of volunteers. Cartoon depictions of beloved characters from children’s books now cavort on the freshly painted walls, while the books on the shelves below were arranged in inviting displays.
“The families in the school just can’t believe how incredible it looks. There’s such a positive vibe up there now,” remarked Keith Prather, St. Michael’s principal.
Alum recalled the library at her alma mater was overcrowded, outdated
Olivia chose to refresh the school library in a bid to earn the Girl Scout Silver Award, which is the second-highest award in Girl Scouting. To earn this award, Cadettes — who are usually in middle school — identify needs in their local communities, then organize and carry out projects to meet those needs and create lasting change.
Olivia came up with the idea of reorganizing St. Michael School’s library relatively quickly, she said. Olivia, who graduated from the school’s fifth grade in 2024, recalled that during her days as a student there, she hadn’t felt particularly inspired to check books out from the library.
“It was really overwhelming how many books were in there, and they weren’t displayed well,” Olivia explained.
The library actually had so many books jammed onto its shelves that it could be difficult for students to look through the collection, added Olivia’s mom, Jen Gruschow.
“There were softcover books on a shelf standing upright, but the soft covers don’t have names on the spines, and they were all packed onto this shelf. You literally had to sift through them one by one,” Gruschow said.
Students who did make the effort to sort through the books often struggled to find something of interest, she added. Over the years, the school had accepted donations of used textbooks, encyclopedias and nonfiction books from well-meaning individuals, and many of these books were either outdated or not of interest to an elementary-school audience, Gruschow said.
“Nobody had the heart to get rid of them,” she said.
Girl Scout sorted books, sought donations for new ones and arranged for murals to be painted
In June, Olivia met with St. Michael’s teachers to find out which books they’d like to see in the library and how they used the space, which also serves as a classroom for art and Spanish classes. She also surveyed St. Michael’s students to find out what kinds of books they’d like in the library. Over the summer, she and her mom pulled all of the library’s books off the shelves.
“We decided if we were going to keep them or get rid of them. If they were good books but they were damaged, we were going to repurchase them,” Olivia said.
Graphic novels in particular, such as the Dogman, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Baby-Sitters Club series, had been read so many times that they were practically falling apart. Olivia knew these books would need to be replaced. She mailed letters to families in the school community, asking if they’d be willing to sponsor any of these series and pay for the books to be repurchased, or to send monetary donations to fund the project. She scoured eBay and other secondhand sites to find gently used versions of the titles that were not sponsored, and she used donated funds to purchase those books.
Olivia also secured donations of paint and repainted the library’s walls. She brought in Sadie Brown, an art student from Keuka College, who painted murals featuring characters from well-known children’s books. Clifford the Big Red Dog now lounges above one shelf with his nose in a good book while Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar inches his way along another shelf. In the portion of the room used for Spanish and art classes, cartoon crayons with their labels written in Spanish frolic, while Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie engage in a paint-splattering battle with the Cat in the Hat and the Lorax.
Principal: St. Michael School community appreciates alum’s efforts
Olivia won’t find out whether her efforts to earn the Silver Award were successful for another few weeks. Regardless of the outcome, however, the St. Michael School community is incredibly grateful, Prather said.
“It’s amazing how a coat of paint and reorganizing books and cleaning things up gives everyone that positive feeling,” he said. “I think it speaks volumes of the alumni here at St. Michael School that somebody was willing to come back and choose a project that helps the school. We’re incredibly thankful that she chose us and put that kind of effort into it.”
Tags: Catholic Schools, Yates County News
