Building Community Through the Hess Library and Technology Center

Alumna Casey Giroud ’02 fosters creativity, connection, and curiosity at Shorecrest

When alumna Casey Giroud ’02 returned to Shorecrest as the Middle and Upper School Librarian in 2022, she brought a deep appreciation for the community that helped shape her. “It’s wonderful to be back at Shorecrest as a faculty member… it’s inspiring to see how far we’ve come and how much more we’ll achieve in the future,” she said.

At the heart of campus on the second floor of Charger Commons, the Hess Library and Technology Center has become more than a hub for research and quiet study. It’s also a lively space for exploration, creativity, and connection. Giroud’s vision is to make the library “a place where students feel welcome, comfortable, and like they can be themselves… a place for discussion, support, group study, and fun,” adding that there’s “seldom a time during the day when the library is empty—and that’s just how I like it.”

To help students see the library as a social, hands-on space, Giroud has created or supported a number of events for students of various ages, including “Let’s Do Lunch,” a monthly series inviting Upper School students to unplug and create. During these school-day events, Casey engages students in activities like jewelry-making, bingo, or creating posters and signs to support Chargers athletics teams. “It’s just a way to get them into the space for something fun that’s not class-related,” she explained. “By doing that, we’re breaking down barriers and building community.”

In Middle School, Giroud regularly pushes into classes with interactive lessons. A recent favorite is the Page to Screen Sneak Peek activity: students rotate through themed stations (from "The Hunger Games" to "The Outsiders"), compare book blurbs to film adaptations, and “think like critics and screenwriters” about pacing, internal vs. external storytelling, and visual challenges.

Giroud’s community-building extends across grade levels. For example, each fall she organizes the Middle School Pumpkin Painting Contest, an after-school opportunity to transform fall's pumpkins into favorite book characters, and she co-leads the annual Scholastic Book Fair alongside her peer librarian Alexis VerEcke, transforming the Raymund Center into a celebration of reading from Experiential School through Middle School, in a much-beloved event that supports both the Haskell and Hess Libraries.

“When I was at Shorecrest, there were places on campus where I could really be myself,” Giroud reflected. “Now, I want the library to be that place for today’s students—a heartbeat of the school where everyone feels like they belong.”