国产传媒

COVID-19 has shut the doors of school libraries across the United States. But in Los Angeles, teacher librarian Yahtina Macali Soto 鈥�07 is still opening doors for her students with a rich array of online opportunities.

Macali Soto joined the Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academies in August 2020. She serves three schools there: Sotomayor Arts and Sciences Magnet School (grades 6-12) and two independent charters, Alliance Tenenbaum Family Technology High and PUC eCALS.

鈥淢y main jobs are programming, community building and literacy,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 in charge of helping students finds books to read for pleasure and for research.鈥� She also points students toward online resources, and she runs a full roster of enrichment activities, currently all online.

For instance, there鈥檚 the book and creative writing club. 鈥淲e discuss books that we read, and we also write poems,鈥� says Macali Soto, who was an English major at Mount Saint Mary's. One recent session featured a visit by young adult author Kit Frick, who offered advice to the club鈥檚 aspiring writers. 鈥淲e鈥檙e also creating an anthology and doing a BookTube鈥攁 video book review.鈥�

The Lunch in the Library drop-in program on Fridays gives students a chance to see friends on Zoom, do online puzzles, watch videos or just unwind. Macali Soto also holds virtual office hours for kids who want book recommendations, tutoring or help with research.

In addition, Macali Soto supervises the Black Student Leaders鈥� Union, with weekly meetings and special events such as the Black History Night Talent Show and a screening of the film, 鈥淭he Children鈥檚 March.鈥� Macali Soto was especially proud when the club鈥檚 president, 12th grader Mellese Simmons, spoke at a town hall held by the Black Students Matter Initiative in January 2021.

As if she didn鈥檛 already wear enough hats, Macali Soto recently joined the board of Mount Saint Mary鈥檚 Black Alumnae Association. Her goals include creating new outreach programs for foster youth. There鈥檚 never too many.

 鈥淚n LA County, a disproportionate percentage of our foster youth are Black or mixed race,鈥� says Macali Soto, who spent time in foster care during her own youth. 鈥淗elping our marginalized black foster youth achieve their educational goals through mentorship and training aligns with the mission of the college and our sisters. By reaching out to the foster youth community, we are continuing the mission of the sisters, finding the needs of the day and addressing them."