Volunteer Appreciation Week 2024

April 21-27, 2024 is National Volunteer Appreciation Week! 

What is National Volunteer Appreciation Week?

National Volunteer Week is an annual celebration observed in many countries, to promote and show appreciation for volunteerism and volunteering.

Bremen Public Library has two volunteer groups. Our Young Adult Volunteer Team and Teen Advisory Board (TAB). Though both have different roles within the library both have the same goal to make the library an inviting place for all teens in the Bremen Community. 

The Young Adult (YA) Department would not be what it is today without the hard work and dedication both of these groups put into the library. So let us take this time to thank all Bremen Public Library YA Volunteers and TAB members! 

Young Adult Volunteer Team: Owen Bickel, Charles Blakely, Mady Blakely, Riley Carpenter, Emma Davidhizar, Jovany Diaz, Azure Geddes, Andrew Ginther, Benji Gonzalez, Blake Grove, Camila Jimenez, Kollin Ladig, Jailen Marmolejos, Kairi Miller, William Miranda, Aaron Nettrouer, Ady Newell, Ian Pepin-Lizardo, Benji Rodriquez, Yahaira Valderama

Teen Advisory Board (TAB):Keenan Akers, Lindsey Byrd, Joseph Davis, Jancarlo Deleon, Becca Kendall, Erlin Martinez, Adrianna Mayer, Atlas McManis, Marilyn Reynoso, Nic Slusser, Sarah Stine, Matt Urbina, Paisley Welborn

For more information about our Young Adult Volunteer Team and Teen Advisory Board (TAB) click the images below, or contact our YA Librarian at 574-546-2849. 

Young Adult Volunteer Team

Bremen Public Library’s Young Adult Volunteer Team is made up of students in grades 6-12 who have a passion for their community, their local library and volunteerism. Individuals perform a variety of tasks and assignments while working closely with our staff. While we certainly appreciates the hard work and dedication of this team, the library is not the only beneficiary! Participating members will earn community service hours, build skills, and enhance their college applications. Hours are flexible from week-to-week and season-to-season.

Teen Advisory Board (TAB)

Do you want to have a voice in making the library a better place for teens? Join the Bremen Public Library Teen Advisory Board to help plan programs, meet other teens, and earn volunteer/community service hours that will look good on college and job applications.

All TAB members must work as a team under the guidance of the Young Adult Librarian to create, plan, and implement programs; recommend books, movies, and games; volunteer for community service projects; and assist in creating an inviting teen environment in the library.

Getting to Know... Lilly

Introducing another volunteer of our YA volunteer team, Lilly Phillips! An 12 year old 7th grader, Lilly has volunteered over 2 hours since the 2022 Summer Session. 

Favorite genre: Adventure 

Someone I look up to: Keanu Reeves 

Favorite TV show:  Stranger Things

A topic I can talk about for hours: Animals

An invention that I want to uninvent: Plastic 

Person I would want with me on a deserted island: Captain Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp

My happy place: My bed 

My spirit animal: a cat 

Something interesting about myself: I can wiggle my ears.

Future plans: Go to the Army, get married, get dream job, and travel the world. 

Are you interested in joining our YA Volunteer Team? Click here for more information!

Getting to Know... Adrianna

 Introducing another volunteer of our YA volunteer team, Adrianna Mayer! An 13 year old 7th grader, Adrianna has volunteered over 54 hours since the 2021 summer session.  

Favorite Book Genre: Horror/Crime 

Someone I look up to: My Step-mom

Favorite TV show: The Walking Dead 

A topic that I can talk about for hours: Anime 

An invention that I would uninvent: Using ramen to fill holes

Person I would want with me on a desereted island: My friends. Kairi, Chloe, Valeria, Lilly, Jessica, and Kaya.

My happy place: Books/manga 

My spirit animal: Fox/Wolf

Something interesting about myself: I love reading. 

Are you interested in joining our YA Volunteer Team? Click here for more information.  

Getting to know Jailen...

Introducing another volunteer of our YA volunteer team, Jailen Marmolejos! An 13 year old 8th grader, Jailen has volunteered over 6 hours since the 2022 Spring session. 

Favorite book genre: History WW2 and US wars

Someone I look up to: Jesus

Favorite TV show: Star Wars 

A topic that I can talk about for hours: Sports 

An invention that I would uninvent: Videogames 

Person that I would want with me on a deserted island: Girlfriend 

My happy place: Church 

My spirit animal: Nop 

Something interesting about myself: Love sports

Future plans: I will go to college for 4 years and be in the Navy. 

Favorite quote: "Your mom."

Are you interested in joining our YA Volunteer Team? Click here for more information! 

Getting to know... Bella

Introducing another volunteer of our YA volunteer team, Bella Woodward! A 16 year old 10th grader, Bella has volunteered over 5.5 hours to date. 

Favorite genre: Romance 

Someone I look up to: My parents

Favorite TV show: Moon Knight 

A topic I can talk about for hours: Anime <3 

An invention that I want to uninvent: Plastic

Person I would want with me on a deserted island: My parents

My happy place: Outside/garden

My spirit animal: Cat 

Something interesting about myself: I love gardening/cooking. 

Future plans: Going to college in Australia. 

Favorite quote: "Just do it!" 

Are you interested in joining our YA Volunteer Team? Click here for more information!

My Experience as a Student Advisor on the Library Board

Although I have been a student advisor on the library board for a little over a third of a year, I feel like I have learned quite a lot about the bureaucratic process that goes on behind the scenes. I didn't realize that there was way much more than what meets the eye when it comes to the library running efficiently. This dynamic that I am able to witness has allowed me to get a bigger picture into how almost everything else runs.

The reason I chose to try to become a student advisor is because I wanted to gain a fuller knowledge on how the systems work to make our institutions run. I specifically wanted to be an advisor on the library board because I thought my knowledge was complete on how the library generally functions, but I realized that there was more that I didn't see. Through my position, I've seen the democratic based system that makes our library run. I've seen how the library board takes the nitty gritty details of running a library (things like making sure the library is on budget, balancing contractors for renovations, evaluating policies of the library, etc.) and tackles them for the betterment of the library. The library board is the mind in how the entity of the library itself runs, and it is a really neat experience to see firsthand why the board is there.

I think my experience in learning about the library board, and its traditions, has opened my eyes to how other institutions run themselves and how they keep themselves going. My position as a student advisor made me aware of things like boards and how they use about the same principles to accomplish very different things. I became aware that the school had a board and that they use the same rules of order to accomplish things for the school. I also learned that the band program at the school has its own version of a board to accomplish an even more niche category of things. This idea that you can have a board within a system under a board made me realize that the boards themselves are a miniature system of government within our government. I saw that boards used the idea of representation of the everyday citizen to get work done within the community. I then made the connection that boards are simply just an extremely scaled down version of how the government we have works, and those principles can lead to many great outcomes.

Through my experiences on the library board, I have become a better leader overall. I have been able to employ the democratic process that is used in library board meetings to make decision that concern people more than just myself. I now try to tackle problems by asking the collective what they think, versus my usual just trying to do everything by myself. This isn't the only positive thing that has come out of my position on the library board. Another positive thing to come out of my experience on the library board is how I became a bigger part of the library community as a whole. Although I was fairly well known by the library before I became a library student advisor, I think my position has made more connections within the community that I couldn't think of before. I became known to a group of people that I wouldn't think I would ever be known to. My name has become something; it has become recognized within the library community.

An important question still remains, what series of events led you to get this position? Well, to answer this question, we need to go back not too far. The basic series of events that led me here is like this; First I had started to volunteer in the summer going into my 7th grade year. It was then during this time where I started to assimilate into the culture of the library and started to understand the library better as a whole. Some time passes and sometime near the end of my sophomore year in high school, principal Mr. Jennings is interested in allowing high school students to be student advisors for different boards in our community. Mr. Jennings wanted to start this withy my class, the class of 2023, and see where we could take the program. When I saw that the library board was one of the possible boards to serve on, I instantly wanted to see what it would be like to serve on it. I don't think I ever regretted choosing to serve on the library board, and I don't think I ever will. I think, if you ever get the opportunity to serve on something as important as a board that makes decisions in your community, then you should always take the opportunity to do so.

- This writing brought to you by BPL Student Advisor, Braden Unruh

The Wonders of the Bremen Public Library Young Adult Volunteering Program

It is hard for me to believe that it has been 4 years since I first started volunteering at the Library. I can say that for 25% of my life, I have been a volunteer at the Bremen Public Library. The volunteering experience at the library has taught me a lot; from mundane things like how the inner workings of the library happen, to the most exciting things like how there is a "secret" room between floors where all sorts of wonderful things reside. Volunteering at the library has been a continued learning experience, allowing me to see the many different sides of our community.

The young adult volunteering program is perfect for our community. Whether you are trying to get community service hours for NHS or NJHS, are trying to actively help our community at large, or are trying to get some real world experience into how a library runs, the volunteering program is perfect. The program helps build skills that are hard to get elsewhere. The volunteer program gives you the opportunity to see what working may be like for you before you have the ability to work. It shows what can happen when you put your continued effort and dedication into a thing larger than yourself.

Through my volunteer work, I have learned a lot about the library and what it is like to be behind the counter instead of being the person in front of the desk. This change of pace in my interactions with the library is one of the main reasons that I stayed being a volunteer for as long as I have. These interactions that I saw as the person on the other side of the desk is the reason I stayed, I was able to see a side of the community that I hadn't seen before. This is also the reason that I have volunteered almost 200 hours of my time in the 4 years I've been volunteering.

A great thing about volunteering at the library is the great diversity of tasks they can have you do on any given day. I remember when I first started volunteering I was tasked with the simple job of cleaning the front door's windows. Although this task does seem like a small thing to do as a volunteer, it opened a gateway to more jobs that the librarians would give. Just getting started with something as simple as washing the windows opened up the possibility of doing more for the library. Before I knew it, I was tasked with some harder jobs, like pulling books from a pre-made list for the librarians. This then led to the librarians tasking me with deleting books from our catalogue so they could be sold at the book sale. I then learned how to check out books for patrons because of learning how to interact with the cataloguing system. Through a slow progression with my volunteering time, I learned slowly what tasks a librarian is faced with almost daily, and I had gained a better appreciation for our library as a whole.

I know everyone reading this is dying to know how to become a young adult volunteer for the library. The process is fairly simple. Most of the information needed to know how to get started as a volunteer can be found at (Click Here), but I will still guide you through what is the best way to become a library volunteer. What you'll want to do is go to the website listed earlier and click on the volunteer application link. This link will take you to a pdf of the volunteer application. This application can also be found at the library, if you ask the librarian at the front desk for a volunteer application, they will be more than happy to supply you with one. You want to fill out the application to the best of your abilities, and return to the library and then the young adult volunteering coordinator will reach out to you to coordinate your volunteering times.

The Bremen Public Library is a wonderful place to volunteer, and is worth every second of your time. It gives our young adult community a plethora of opportunities for growth, and strengthens the community ties with our young adult population.

This writing brought to you by BPL Student Advisor (and volunteer), Braden Unruh.

Getting to Know...Mady

Introducing another valuable member of our YA volunteer team, Mady Blakely! An 11-year-old 6th grader, Mady has accumulated 19 hours to date.

My Favorite Book Genre: Fiction

Someone I Look Up To: My mom

My Favorite TV Show: The Worst Witch

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Iceland

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Music

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: Emma

My Happy Place: Home

My Spirit Animal: Bunny

Something Interesting About Myself: I Am Scared of Dogs

Future Plans: I want to be a cartographer.

Favorite Quote: "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." - Theodore Roosevelt

Getting to Know...Madison

Introducing another valuable member of our YA volunteer team, Maddy Youngman! A 16-year-old 10th grader, Maddy has accumulated 19.5 hours to date.

My Favorite Book Genre: Dystopian

Someone I Look Up To: My Family, Ellen Pompeo

My Favorite TV Show: Grey's Anatomy

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Basketball

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Plastic

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: Owen Bickel

My Happy Place: Basketball court or my home

My Spirit Animal: Anteater

Something Interesting About Myself: Up until about age 10 I always wanted to be a country singer

Future Plans: Culinary Arts or Elementary Teaching

Favorite Quote: "I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Getting to Know...Owen

Introducing another valuable member of our YA volunteer team, Owen Bickel! A 12-year-old 7th grader, Owen has accumulated 23.5 hours to date.

Favorite Book Genre: Post-Apocalyptic

Someone I Look Up To: My mom

Favorite TV Show: Grey's Anatomy

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Farming

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Plastic, particularly plastic bags

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: Bear Grylls

My Happy Place: My bedroom

My Spirit Animal: Bear

Something Interesting About Myself: I have my own tractor, a CASE 930

Future Plans: Mechanic and Farmer

Favorite Quote: No act of kindness is ever wasted.

Getting to Know...Emma

Introducing another valuable member of our YA volunteer team, Emma Davidhizar! A 13-year-old 7th grader, Emma has accumulated 8 hours to date.

Favorite Book Genre: Science Fiction

Someone I Look Up To: My mom

Favorite TV Shows: Survivor and The Amazing Race

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Robotics

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Coronavirus

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: Katniss Everdeen

My Happy Place: With friends

My Spirit Animal: Monkey

Something Interesting About Myself: I do quite a few after-school sports/activities. Cross country, swimming, robotics, track

Future Plans: Own a business

Favorite Quote: "The purpose of our lives is to be happy." - Dalai Lama

Getting to Know...Marcos

Introducing another valuable member of our YA volunteer team, Marcos Meija! A 16-year-old 11th grader, Marcos has accumulated 6.25 hours to date.

Favorite Movie: The Fast and the Furious

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Animals

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Homework

Favorite Sport: Soccer

Favorite Candy: Hershey's Chocolate

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: My cousin

Someone I Look Up To: Mr. Chris

My Happy Place: Home

My Spirit Animal: Zebra

Something Interesting About Myself: I like spending time on my phone. Texting, calling friends, playing Temple Run

Future Career Path: Farmer

Getting to Know...Fayth

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Fayth Wagner! An 11-year-old 6th grader, Fayth completed her first hour of service today!


Favorite Book Genres: Fantasy (Wings of Fire, Harry Potter)

Someone That I Look Up To: Mrs. Jesswein

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Animals

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Homework

My Happy Place: Small Spaces

My Spirit Animal: Dragon

Favorite Movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: My Best Friend

Possible Career Path: Biologist

Getting to Know...RJ

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Richard Steven Hamby Jr.! A 16-year-old 10th grader, RJ has accumulated 5 hours to date.

Favorite Book Series: Science Fiction

Someone I Look Up To: My mom

Favorite TV Show: Bunk'd

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Hunting

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Bullying

My Happy Place: Magical Unicorn Place

My Spirit Animal: Squirrel

Possible Career Path: Welder

Favorite Quote: "Don't let people take your passion, show them you are strong." -- RJ Hamby

Getting to Know...Kaylee

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Kaylee Ann Richardson! A 17-year-old 12th grader, Kaylee has accumulated 5.5 hours to date.

Favorite Book Series: Junie B. Jones

Someone I Look Up To: My mom

Favorite TV Show: Two and a Half Men

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: Shawn Mendes

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: School

Happy Place: My room

Spirit Animal: Goat

Something Interesting About Myself: I like to draw

Possible Career Path: Veterinarian

Favorite Quote: "It's everyday bro!" -- Jake Paul

Getting to Know...Abby

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Abby Byer! A 12-year-old 7th grader, Abby has accumulated 8.5 hours to date.

Favorite Book Genres: Comedy and Mysteries

Someone I Look Up To: Mom

Favorite TV Shows: Stuck in the Middle, Dog with a Blog

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Baking

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Electronics

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: Paisley Welborn

My Happy Place: Back porch at home

My Spirit Animal: Fox

Something Interesting About Myself: I play the French Horn

Future Plans: Go to Notre Dame, become a doctor

Favorite Quote: "Believe you can and you're halfway there." - Theodore Roosevelt

Getting to Know...Brylee

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Brylee Murphy! A 16-year-old 12th grader, Brylee has accumulated 11.25 hours to date.

Favorite Book Genres: Realistic fiction and non-fiction Christianity books

Someone I Look Up To: My mom and Mrs. Hudkins

Favorite TV Shows: Friends, Gilmore Girls, The Fosters

A Topic That I Can Talk About For An Hour: Why women should be allowed to preach

An Invention That I Would Uninvent: Roller coasters - they're horrible

Person I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island: My friend Hannah or Hailey

My Happy Place: Mrs. Hudkins' classroom, reading on my porch

My Spirit Animal: A squirrel, definitely

Something Interesting About Myself: I've been in my school's color guard and winter guard since 5th grade

Future Plans, Possible Career Paths: College somewhere, elementary teacher

Favorite Quote: "I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun. Not because I can see it, but by it I can see everything else." - C.S. Lewis

Getting to Know...Seth

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Seth Clark! A 12-year-old 7th grader, Seth has accumulated 6 hours of service to date.

FAVORITE BOOK GENRES: Space, Sports, Sci-Fi

SOMEONE I LOOK UP TO: My father

FAVORITE TV SHOWS: Teen Titans Go, Total Drama

TOPIC I CAN TALK ABOUT FOR AN HOUR: Aerospace Engineering

AN INVENTION THAT I WOULD UNINVENT: The Missile

MY HAPPY PLACE: My playroom at home

My SPIRIT ANIMAL: Wolf

SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT MYSELF: I can be very quiet sometimes, then I can be loud and animated

FUTURE PLANS: Aerospace Engineer, Airline Pilot, Astronaut

Three Year Anniversary

Three years ago, in May of 2016, the YA Volunteer organization was created. As the, at the time, new Young Adult Librarian at BPL, this was a front-burner venture for the many goals I wanted to see accomplished. A partnership that would simultaneously benefit both the library as an institution, as well as the youth in our community. Through joining forces, resources and services could be strengthened, providing students real-world opportunities in a world of books and beyond.

Fast-forward to May 2019. 59 individuals have officially contributed over 1,000 hours to our magnificent establishment! It is with their assistance that Bremen Public Library is a destination point for many. Thank you, dear volunteers, for helping us to evolve, grow, and meet the needs of this good town.

Getting to Know...Brianna

Introducing another valuable member of our YA Volunteer Team, Brianna Justice! A 13-year-old 8th grader, Brianna has accumulated 9.75 hours since February.

FAVORITE BOOK GENRE: Romance

SOMEONE I LOOK UP TO: My sister Boston

FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOWS: Star, Empire

A TOPIC THAT I CAN TALK ABOUT FOR AN HOUR: Twilight

MY HAPPY PLACE: The library

SPIRIT ANIMAL: Cats

SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT MYSELF: I like to be around people

FUTURE PLANS: Neurosurgeon

FAVORITE QUOTE: "If looks could kill."