Practicum student Anthony Sheane, youth and community librarian Stephanie Kuhn and vice-president of TIC TAC Mariah McOuat stand in the youth collection at Medicine Hat Public Library.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Mariah McOuat is the current vice president of TIC TAC at Medicine Hat Public Library.
“Since joining TIC TAC, I’ve loved the community,” McQuat said. “Everyone is super friendly. It’s a whole bunch of people I get to interact with that I would never would have connected with outside of school. They all really love books like I do and the library has lots of great resources.”
They were part of the group involved with the creation of The Honeycomb House.
“The idea to have the teen space was already formed. We were doing detailed stuff, the naming of it and picking out the furniture and colours,” they said.
Settling on a name involved several brainstorming sessions, but the group anted something related to the hive theme.
Youth and community librarian Stephanie Kuhn added, “You guys were adamant we keep with library branding, which was amazing. We wanted the hive, but we already have the Hive Social Work office, so we were playing with words with Honeycomb … the best alliteration that fit was House, so the Honeycomb House. We said it once and everyone agreed unanimously.”
Being part of TIC TAC has helped McOuat be more comfortable interacting with and working with others.
“I used to struggle socially and I came into this new space and knew nobody, so I had to talk for myself. It has helped me get out there and talk to strangers and be able to advocate for myself and state my opinions.”
Khun is impressed with McOuat’s growth.
“I have really seen Mariah blossom in the less than two years they’ve been here. We had a good opportunity with some grant money that we were able to hire them as a student worker over the summer and they took charge and took on lots of responsibility to help and guide the other workers. When I wasn’t there, they gave lots of leadership. I’m really impressed on how far they’ve come from not wanting to talk to me to now being vice president.”
Teen nights are held once a month at MHPL on a Friday evening after the library closes. All teens, 13-19, are welcome to attend. Each night has a theme with different activities each month, such as DIY, video games, crafts, board games or trivia.
Teen Nights are an inter-school collaboration with students from middle and high schools across the city. With various activities available, the teens take over the entire lower level of the library.
“I really love it and I try to come to all the events and meetings and help as much as I can,” stated McOuat.
Anthony Sheane is a practicum student at MHPL, which is part of the Child and Youth Care Counselling program he is taking at Medicine Hat College. He is a former TIC TAC volunteer, formally joining the group in 2019 after attending teen nights.
“My friend invited me because he thought it would be a great place to hang out and meet new people. We came for a video game night. I find video games are good for interacting with youth because you aren’t face-to-face the entire time.”
He found the teen nights to be a welcoming and kind environment for a struggling teen. His experience initiated his desire to want to help others.
Considering post-secondary options starts to be introduced in the final year of middle school. McOuat, now in their first year of high school, doesn’t have a firm idea of what they want to do following graduation, but has given it some thought.
“I want to go into business or women’s and gender studies. It would be cool to create a charity for LGBTQ+ youth.”
TIC TAC committee applications are now closed for 2023-24, but MHPL will be recruiting new members in September 2024. All teens are welcome to the monthly teen nights. For more information on what’s available for teens at the library, visit https://mhpl.shortgrass.ca/services/teens.
