After three years, Marc Garneau CI is saying goodbye to Ms. Legrow, the head teacher-librarian known for her bright smiles and thoughtful book selections. Ms. Legrow has been at MGCI for three years and a teacher-librarian for four. She will be moving to the school Forest Hill CI.
When she first arrived at the school, it was like a different world: months into the pandemic, the library closed to students, and her meeting some of them behind a protective screen and helping them with technology. She held onto the joy of watching their faces light up as she helped relieve some of their stress.
“But it wasn’t until a year later when I was able to open the library doors to students, that I was truly able to see the excitement and joy that students felt when they were in the library,” she noted.
Prior to working in the library, she taught Canadian and World Studies, for which she was the department head for nineteen years. Her background in teaching lies in geography and history.
The library, however, held the most meaningful work for her: it was a help desk for books, technology, post-secondary choices, learning about the school, getting to know the country, education, and life in general. Ms. Legrow summed it up: “It’s a place of learning. From each other and for each other.”
When asked about books she would recommend to students, her answer was simple: “Books that bring them joy. Books that open a window into someone else’s story. And books that make them think.”
As for books that had impacted her? At the top of the list was the famous science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert and its five sequels. She had loved books her entire life, but started reading Dune when she was twelve and read all six books by high school, finding that it stayed with her. She described it as “this world-building series that had all the genres in one book.”
Another story that had an influence on her but in a different way was “Lily’s Chickens,” a short story by Barbaray Kingsolver. “It inspired me to raise my own backyard flock of chickens,” she said, “which I was able to start this spring.”
Ms. Legrow plans to teach for another five or six years before retiring, when she says she will be growing as much of her own food as she can. She currently spends her free time baking bread and treats, reading, and crafting, as well as taking care of her ducks, dogs, and the aforementioned chickens.
She leaves with a message of hope: “I hope that students will continue to enjoy the diversity of books in the collection, and see their stories, their voices, and the voices of others they have yet to meet. I hope that the library continues to open the doors of learning even after we all leave Marc Garneau.”
