Chess, Scrabble, Battleships, Uno, and Candyland. The fun games you played as a little kid don’t have to remain in the past. At the end of the month, students will get a chance to revisit playing these games in the library at a “Board Game Social Event,” hosted by new librarian Colton Gaudette.

“A library is perfect,” Gaudette said. “A perfect spot to have events like this, where it can just be chill and [people can] hang out and socialize.”

Guadette’s love for gaming gave him the idea of wanting to bring this kind of social to the library. He worked with Library Media Specialist Melissa Brayall to put this together; they just so happened to “have the same idea for different reasons.”

Guadette was first introduced to the idea of an after school space to play board games when he attended Plymouth State University and joined the Board Game Club.

“And kind of before I knew it, I became the president of it,” Gaudette said. “It was kind of crazy. At first I wasn’t really sure, but then I got invested in it.”

Gaudette attended college with a major in English, which was what originally led him on his journey towards becoming a librarian.

“I never really had [being a librarian] in my head,” Gaudette said. “It wasn’t until I did a work study job at our academic library.”

Gaudette enjoyed the job of helping students find books and being in the environment. He found himself thinking about becoming a high school librarian after speaking with some of his professors and his mom, too.

“When I was about to graduate, one of my professors said, ‘I think you’d be a really good high school librarian. I think you’d be really good at that,’” Gaudette said.

Helping students get through high school, which can be a tough time, is something that Gaudette found himself connecting with.

“The environment of a high school is a very important time, and lots of decisions are kind of being made,” Gaudette said. “I feel passionate about that myself, having gone through all of high school myself.”

Gaudette is open to any and all ideas for new events being held in the library, and if anyone has an idea, they should just come up and talk with any library staff member.

“If you want to do anything in the library, just ask Mrs. Brayall, Mrs. Wooding, or any of us at the front desk, and we’d be happy to set something up,” Gaudette said.