Mission High School librarians recognized by Region One

MISSION, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Region One Education Service Center is recognizing two Rio Grande Valley librarians for their efforts to help students in need.

Margie Longoria and Terri Lincoln with Mission High School were nominated for the Innovative Library Recognition Award for “Keira’s Closet”.

The project aims to help students better focus on their education by providing them with everyday essentials they may need at home. It's named after Keira Garza, an Eagle Scout and former student at Mission High School who proposed the idea last year.

Longoria said after she helped put Garza’s idea in place, students came to not only get items they needed but to donate more goods.

She said even after Garza graduated, the closet is still helping students.

“She provided everything in the beginning - like everything - and she thought of everything… we got a little bit of help from our staff here on campus. We said we have a closet, so people started bringing us things, and we decided that we wanted to keep it going because we saw how important and how it was used a lot.”

Both said they’ve updated the closet since its creation and plan to keep it running next semester.