About me
Carolyn Valencia (she/hers) works as an Outreach Librarian for the High Plains Library District (HPLD) with a focus on early literacy. She identifies as Spanish and Native American. Earning her MLIS in 2019 from Emporia State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Santa Clara University in 1998, Carolyn shares her passion for the arts and multiliteracies (primarily physical and self-literacy) with her diverse community members in Greeley, Colorado. With this life-long passion, Carolyn pursued careers in dance and Bikram Yoga before library-land. In 2014, she created HPLD’s first Yoga Storytime and has implemented these at the Colorado Early Education Network (CEEN) Head Starts in Weld County, as well as the Little Learner’s Preschool at the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado (IRCNOCO). In 2019, she became a certified Stories, Songs, and Stretches!® Facilitator. She received the 2020 Rising Star Award from the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL), in which she was recognized as a new librarian demonstrating exceptional work in early literacy and a rising star who inspires others to do outstanding early literacy work. The Hispanic Women of Weld County honored her with the Educator's Award in 2021. Carolyn strives to provide diverse and inclusive programming to her community. In 2021, she partnered with Greeley-Evans School District 6 to offer HPLD’s first family book club called Widening the Window (WtW). Currently, in its third year, WtW is a 3-month EDI series dedicated to witnessing, hearing, holding, and healing racialized trauma. Honored with each new sunrise and sunset, Carolyn celebrates all walks of life and dances in her kitchen with her daughter.
