It’s never too early to bring safety seminars back from the dead.
In the spirit of preparedness, the San Diego Public Library hosted a “Zombie Preparedness” event on Tuesday night – one in the beginning of a series.
The event, which was held at the Pacific Beach/Taylor Library, was open to students from third to eighth grades.
An alarm bell marked the beginning of the program, prompting the children to take cover while program facilitators taught disaster preparedness. Participants scavenged for supplies in one of many interactive activities that taught survival skills.
Adriana Huertas, program manager of youth, family and equity services for the library, marked the importance of being prepared at every age – especially with a rise in climate disasters across the state and beyond.
“We all need to be ready,” Huertas said. “ It’s something that we’ve been experiencing in a lot of our communities in California and San Diego, with the wildfires.
“We thought this would be a great way to engage youth at a younger age for emergencies.”
This event is just the beginning of a series hosted by the library. More zombie preparedness sessions are coming to Mission Valley Library (Oct. 7) and the Central Library (Oct. 28). The library also offers college prep programs, themed workshops and STEAM programs.
The series is a part of the Discover U initiative, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as part of a national “Libraries as Pillars of Education and Democracy Program.” San Diego Public Library was one of the program’s 11 grant recipients.
Discover U began in fall of 2024, and has aimed to provide youth an opportunity to explore and succeed in STEAM and college and career goals, according to the San Diego Public Library website.
“We’re responding to the community and community youth needs, and bridging the gap between different areas of support. After COVID, there was a lot of need from students in terms of mental health and dealing with life. We are trying to be responsive to that,” Huertas said.
Future Discover U events can be found on the library’s online calendar.
