South Lenoir Media Center receives grant from state library group

South Lenoir High School students gather around a table in an area of the school’s media center being transformed into an Internet cafe, a project helped recently by a grant awarded by school media coordinator Tanya Cahoon. Submitted photo

South Lenoir’s media center received a grant from the N.C. School Library Media Association as the school continues to revitalize its area.

The NCSLMA provided $500 disaster relief grants to a trio of schools who suffered damage from Hurricane Florence. South Lenoir media coordinator Tanya Cahoon wrote the grant and said water damage at the school extended into an area of the media center being converted into the Blue Devil Cafe, which will be created for the students.

“Since I am continuing to add funds to assist with the making of our Blue Devil Cafe area, I thought it might be a good idea to use these funds to replace the ceiling tiles in this area alone with something made of a less absorbent and more decorative material,” Cahoon said.

The NCSLMA award is the second grant Cahoon has won to help fund the project.

Sets of low, comfortable chairs and a couple of tall cafe tables mark the corner of the library where the Cafe is taking shape. Cahoon envisions a student gathering place modeled on an internet cafe, including a coffee bar and Smoothie machine.