On April 17, State High’s library was presented with the 2026 Outstanding Pennsylvania School Library Award.
The award, given by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA), recognizes exceptional school library programming, instruction, and services integral to students’ education. The rubric consists of six foundational categories–inquire, include, collaborate, curate, explore, and engage, which were created by the mother chapter of PSLA, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).
“I believe State High’s library is about opportunity. It’s opportunity for our students, but it’s also opportunities for our teachers and our programs to succeed and excel,” librarian Mark Morath II said.
The key opportunities within library doors are what set it apart. It is given to one Pennsylvania school each year, and State High had never won the award before. The ceremony was held at the Altoona Convention Center and was attended by Morath, fellow librarian Ellen Stolarski, principal Laura Tobias, and associate principal Dr. Brett Wilson.
“For me, it was nice to be recognized by people who understand your world,” Stolarski said. “Our world is a little weird; we’re very focused on meeting student and teacher needs, so our day is a little more unstructured than that of a traditional teacher.”
Morath echoed that statement: “Day in and day out, I believe in prioritizing whoever it is that happens to walk in the door that day … there’s so much perpetual work behind the scenes of libraries, but all of that gets put on the back burner as soon as a [student or teacher] shows up asking for something.”
Wilson has worked at State High since the 2007-08 school year, beginning as a social studies teacher before becoming an associate principal.
“From a teacher aspect, [librarians] really help kids with being able to develop their [research] skills. Since then, with things going online, one of the things they’re really able to do is promote what access we have to online programs … when I was doing my dissertation, I used all of our stuff too,” Wilson said. “So it’s an amazing resource for classes, for kids, but also for the adults in the building as well.”
At the same ceremony, former State High Librarian Dr. Cathi Fuhrman was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award for all she has done to support school libraries in Pennsylvania.
Fuhrman’s career included terms as the president of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, chair of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and the Councilor at Large of the AASL board of directors before her retirement last year.
The library team, now made up of Morath, Stolarski, and library paraprofessionals Anne Kapinus and Katie Van Varrick, strongly emphasized their constant pursuit of growth. Just this year, they’ve introduced the SCAHS bookmobile and the “Lunch and Learn” program.
The bookmobile, run by Stolarski, visits students at lunch periods and PAWS times; it acts as a miniature portable library for students in order to break down barriers.
“I know that State High students are very active, they’re very busy, and sometimes it’s hard to get to the library to return a book or get a book,” Stolarski said. “So [the bookmobile] is about meeting the students where they’re at. It’s been really fun to kind of be creative and think about how to serve the whole student.”
The Lunch and Learn program brings guest speakers for students to do exactly that: eat lunch while learning. Thus far, it’s featured Laura Egan, a manga translator, and Carmin Wong, State College’s Poet Laureate.
In addition, the library is home to a podcasting room, green screen equipment, and rotating offline activities like crochet and origami. It also opens an hour before classes start, and stays open until 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, allowing greater student access outside of school hours.
“I think it gives a wide variety of things just for the wide variety of the needs of our kids. Some kids just like to go in there because it’s a quiet space during study hall or during lunches. Other kids are going to use that unique equipment that we have here … that not many other schools can offer,” Wilson said. “It’s a smaller version of what we do here at State High, and it’s really meeting the… diverse needs of everybody here in the school.”
“There’s lots of … activities like little arts and crafts, and they also have puzzles and different quiet rooms on the sides that make it really easy to study,” sophomore Maxwell Jennings said. “I think that overall, it’s a super welcoming community, the librarians are very nice, and they’re always happy to help however they can.”
Countless State High students like Jennings spend their study halls in the library, where they can congregate with friends, instead of their typical PAWS Time room.
Senior Sophia Lezhava, a student library assistant, emphasized how she’s found her place in the library over her four years at State High.
“There was a point in my life where I didn’t have a lot of friends here, and I was going through some stuff, and then I found the library, and they let me start working there.”
The library will carry on its role as a haven for students and the ultimate physical and emotional heart of the school. In the future, the team plans on continuing to expand, reaching even more students through research, literacy, and a love of reading.
“Every [librarian] I’ve worked with keeps bringing new ideas, and raising the bar of the expectations we have here at State High, and maybe that’s the core piece of it all,” Morath said. “When we show up here, we raise the bar, every year, of what we do, how we do it, and what else we might be able to do.”
