This morning, Adams Elementary School held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of the school’s new library.

Established in 1953, for many years the library was housed in a portable structure.

Now the students benefit from a beautiful facility that is the hub of the school. A design center has been incorporated into the building.

It is a maker space where children work on hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) projects. Principal Amy Alzina noted that on June 2, 2016, Adams will hold its first Maker Faire where innovation and resourcefulness will be the focus of student projects.

“The Adams Library and Design Center serves as the center of the school where a love of literature and exploration are supported in every child, parent and community member,” Alzina said.

“These spaces are designed to foster ‘creative thinking skills’ gained only by allowing our children to explore, experiment and discover through trial and error. At Adams, we believe that we need to empower every student by encouraging him or her to think differently about the world we live in by being creative. 

“We truly believe that we can make the world a better place because we believe in the creativity and innovation inside of each one of our children. We would like to thank the tax payers for supporting bond Measures Q and R for funding this project. This is one great example of what we can accomplish for our children when we pull our resources together as a community.”

— Barbara Keyani is a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara Unified School District.