Portage High School students who enter the PHS Media Center to study, check out a book, work on a project or simply escape from the stress of the school day are greeted by the smiling face of PHS Library Media Clerk Lorrie Cohen. Cohen goes out of her way to form a connection with each student who visits the library.
“I like teenagers; I truly enjoy being with them,” she said. “I like their sense of humor; I like their dialogue to converse with them. I think they’re great people. I know some people don’t think much of kids, but I on the other hand happen to have a great deal of respect for teenagers.”
For some students, the media center provides a needed place of comfort and stability. They know they are welcome to visit any time that they have nowhere else to go before school, during lunch or during study hall.
“I had an English teacher years and years ago who taught me how to approach it,” Cohen said. “You shake their hand, you look a child in the eye and you make human contact. I make every effort to learn what a student’s name is, because I think that makes that personal contact.”
Cohen said her job allows her to establish personal connections much more easily than a secretary behind a desk. Students are not in trouble when they stop by the media center the way they often are when they are sent to the office. She enjoys connecting with each and every student that stops by.
“I get to see a child in all aspects, from the A.P. kids, to the special education kids, whom I truly enjoy when they come in,” she said.
Although the library does not officially open until 6:30 a.m., Cohen opens the doors as soon as she arrives each morning. When the start of the school day is put on a two hour delay due to weather, she opens the doors at the regular time for students that have nowhere else to go.
Cohen’s favorite part of her day is during the lunch hours, when a steady flow of students sign-in to the media center. During A Lunch, as many as 50 students sometimes come in. C Lunch is populated with regular visitors including several groups that visit Cohen on a daily basis. She also thoroughly enjoys the student assistants that spend their free period helping her in the library instead of in a study hall class.
Cohen got her start in the Portage Township Schools District as a substitute teacher in 1992, when her four children went to school full time. She was hired to work as a media clerk 15 years ago and has served in that capacity ever since.
The longtime Portage resident has lived in the city since 1961 and graduated from Portage High School in 1971. All four of her children also graduated from PHS, which she called “a fine establishment.”
Cohen followed in the footsteps of her mother, who was a media clerk at Portage High School and then Willowcreek Middle School. Cohen’s parents, who have both been very involved in the Portage community through churches and social organizations, are now 81 years old and still live in the city. The family affair has continued as Cohen’s daughters are both involved in education, one in Griffith at one at Fegely. Her two sons now live out of state.
Away from her job, Cohen spends a lot of time with her family. She also belongs to a private sorority, Theta Gamma Theta, which participates in many philanthropic activities.
Cohen is now the veteran of the PHS Media Center after the departure of the three female librarians that she previously worked with. This year, PHS graduate Brett Gorden has joined Cohen as a Library Media Clerk, while Richard Horn has transitioned from Willowcreek Middle School to PHS as the Library Media Specialist.
“In Mr. Gordon’s case, it was a transition from being a student to being in here,” Cohen said. “He catches on beautifully. With Mr. Horn, it wasn’t so much teaching him anything, he knew what to do, it was just more or less, ‘middle school operates this way; we have a different situation.’ It’s a different atmosphere because it’s not all women. I am absolutely enjoying myself.”
Cohen is the epitome of what any adult that works inside a school building should be. Without question, she truly cares about the students.
“I think it takes patience and a sense of humor,” she said. “If you’re going to work with kids, you better have a sense of humor. I think you have to have a form of compassion, because there are kids who walk in here every day who are having a really crappy day and maybe they need a smile, or a hug, or a ‘Hey, I like the way you’re dressed.’ If I didn’t respect students, I wouldn’t be here.”