Olivia Vance, 18, and Luis Chavez, 22, bilingual college students who grew up nearby, are the librar

The interns are part of a pilot project, thanks to a $9,645 Library Services and Technology Act grant. If the program works, Cornelius library officials could share it with other Oregon libraries in the future.
Olivia Vance, 18, and Luis Chavez, 22, bilingual college students who grew up nearby, are the library's new part-time Latino outreach interns. They started car rental anchorage ak in December, marketing the library's resources, creating videos for its new YouTube account and assisting with story times at local schools.
Library director Karen Hill said the interns are part of a pilot project, thanks to a $9,645 Library Services and Technology Act grant . If the program works, she said, Cornelius library car rental anchorage ak officials could share it with other Oregon libraries for their consideration.
"Around here, language and culture are really big barriers," she said. "People are afraid they'll come in and not be able to communicate. Being here in their native language just makes a huge difference."
Vance, a freshman Spanish student at Pacific car rental anchorage ak University, said her vision for the language exchange is as a practice area for conversational skills. She will lead the students in discussions about current car rental anchorage ak events while introducing vocabulary applicable to daily life.
"I don't have to be Latina car rental anchorage ak to be involved in the Latino community," Vance said. "It's easy for people to feel intimidated with something they don't understand. This is a way to close that gap of the unknown."
Chavez, a sophomore office administration student at Portland Community College, said his computer class covers the bare-bones basics such as how to navigate different windows and send emails. He said he hopes to make it the least intimidating possible by hosting informal question and answer sessions before or after each class so people can catch up.
Hill said the library was recently granted another car rental anchorage ak $4,500 LSTA grant, which will be matched by the nonprofit Friends of the Cornelius car rental anchorage ak Public Library. Officials will conduct another round of Latino outreach with student intern hires in the spring, she said.