20 things You Need to Know Before Leaving High School at the Calhoun County Library

Part Two: Car Maintenance

            Need a spare tire put on your car? Call one of our teens from Teen Night at the library! Last Tuesday, Lee Hollingsworth of Hutto's Transmission came to speak at Calhoun County Library’s Teen Night about car care as part of the 20 Things You Need to Know Before Leaving High School series.

            On Tuesday, November 15, 2022, Lee Hollingsworth presented a hands-on approach to learning about how a car works and how to maintain it during Teen Night at the library. Hollingsworth taught the teens many important aspects about a car including:

1. Where the radiator is located and how to check the water in it (do not check it when the engine is hot).
2. Where the oil well is located and how to use the dipstick to check oil.
3. Where the washer fluid tank is located and what to put in it (do not use soap because it will leave a soap residue on the windshield).
4. Where the battery is located and how to use jumper cables to jumpstart a car.
5. Where the spare tire and jack are located in a car, truck, and Jeep.
6. How to use the jack and chock the wheels of the car.
7. How to check the air in a tire with a tire gauge.
8. How to put air in a tire.

            After instructing teens about each aspect, Hollingsworth put them to the test. The teens actually removed the lug nuts with a lug wrench and then took the tires off, rotated them and put them back on. After that, they checked the air pressure in the tires and put more air in the ones that were low. They engaged in other hands-on activities with the car as well and many said they learned a lot from this experience.

            We appreciate all of the teens that came with the mindset to learn important skills. The Calhoun County Library appreciates Lee Hollingsworth for teaching and for his time.

            Join us for Teen Night on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 5 PM from October through May. This program is for teens ages 12 - 17. We may interject other programs throughout this school year, but we will focus on 20 Things You Need to Know Before Leaving High School periodically.

Holidays at the Library

            Calhoun County Library has two Christmas programs coming up within the next few weeks for the community to get into the holiday spirit.

            Porkchop Productions will be at the Calhoun County Library on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, at 5 PM. The fan favorite is coming to perform the Christmas play Holly and the Christmas Kerfuffle for us!

            “With only a few days left before Christmas, toys are disappearing from the Toy Safe in Santa’s Workshop and Holly the Elf is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery! Holly will go to any length to catch the thief…from the outrageous to the hilarious… to make sure Christmas goes off without a hitch!

This installment of our Holly the Elf series promises plenty of laughs, and teaches important lessons in understanding, the gift of giving, and learning to put yourself in someone else's shoes.”

            Our second holiday event, Cookies with Santa, will take place on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, from 5 PM - 7 PM. Santa Claus will be at the Calhoun County Library to take pictures and listen to what all the good little boys and girls would like from him this year. Along with the Santa Claus main attraction, there will also be crafts, hot chocolate, cookies, book readings to listen to, and a free book to read before Santa visits your house on Christmas Day!

            Come and get your Christmas spirit going while having fun with the Porkchop players and Santa Claus. These two events are sure to keep you laughing and having fun the entire time! It is also bound to get you in the holiday spirit. We'll see you there!

20 things You Need to Know Before Leaving High School at the Calhoun County Library

            Our Teen Nights have started back and we're launching a series of programs called 20 Things You Need to Know Before Leaving High School. This past Tuesday, November 1, we invited members of the Bee Creative group to collaborate with our teens and teach them a few life skills. We focused on laundry and clothing care.

            Tuesday, November 1, at 5 PM the teens started rolling in for Teen Night at the Calhoun County Library. We also had three ladies from the Bee Creative group at the library who arrived with needles, thread, an iron, and an ironing board. Linda Coleman, Linda Felkel, and Thelma Miles handed out squares of fabric, spools of thread, needles, and buttons. Teens learned the correct way to sew on a button and did a great job with it! After buttoning things up at the table, they moved to the ironing board where they learned about the settings on the iron and using steam. Each teen took a turn ironing a cotton shirt including sleeves, collars, and cuffs. 

            After sewing buttons and ironing shirts, the teens learned how to do laundry and how to read labels on clothing. We looked at all the dials on a washer and dryer and learned what they mean, and we discussed what terms like “dry clean only,” “hand wash only,” and “tumble dry low” mean on a clothing label.

            Hopefully, our teens left with a sense of accomplishment and felt like they could sew on a button, iron a shirt, and do their own laundry. We appreciate the help of our Bee Creative members and are thankful for their time.

            Join us for Teen Nights on the first and third Tuesdays of each month from October through May. This program is for teens ages 12 - 17. We may interject other programs throughout this school year, but we will focus on 20 Things You Need to Know Before Leaving High School.

Come Meet A S.C. Author

            The Calhoun County Library is hosting an event to meet a South Carolina author next Thursday.

            We are having an author event on Thursday, November 10, 2022, from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM here at the Calhoun County Library. The author, William A. Glass, is a South Carolina native who started writing to pass the time in the car during road trips. Glass will be here discussing his second published book, As Good As Can Be, which came out in 2020 and is about “a wayward child growing up in a military family during the 1950s.” When he isn’t writing, Glass is a soccer coach at the Salkehatchie branch of the University of South Carolina. He is a retired businessman.

            Join us for this author event next Thursday and enjoy light refreshments and stimulating conversations with a South Carolina author.

            This event is made possible by the support of the Friends of the Calhoun County Library.