By: Ivan Habib and Tori Schubert

Website Manager and People Editor

Library technician and pro multitasker Liz Olson is entering her fifth year at Los Gatos High School, taking on more than ever before. As the leader of Cats Homework Help, Speech and Debate, Reality Check, Link Crew, and the library, Olson fills her calendar to the brim, connecting with a large portion of the student population.

Working primarily as a library technician, Olson fills her 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM shift with careful research, finding and purchasing books for the student body while also taking suggestions from staff. Simultaneously, she hosts a variety of classes for small group activities or reading. Olson emphasizes the joys of working with students, describing them as “so respectful and wonderful, and my very favorite part of the job.” Prior to working in the library, Olson worked in the testing center. Although fond of both positions, she found the library opening intriguing, hoping “it would give me an opportunity to interact with a greater population of the school.” Her benevolence motivates Olson to provide a caring environment for students, incorporating her love of literature with her outgoing nature. Beyond the library, Olson further involves herself with the community in a variety of ways.

Olson is very enthusiastic about supporting clubs and initiatives at Los Gatos High School. This year she is advising Speech and Debate as well as Cats Homework Help. In addition, she helps lead both Link Crew, which is a student-led initiative to make our school more inclusive and welcoming especially towards freshmen, as well as Reality Check, creating monthly issues of authentic sentiments from our high school. She explained,“I try to help where I can and create a safe space for [students] to come in and feel like they can decompress,” and that she believes supporting clubs and other organizations helps her accomplish this. However, the part of her job she thoroughly detests “is turning kids away during tutorial, because I hate to do that,” though frequently over a hundred students flock to the library, far exceeding its limited capacity, from 10:00-10:35 AM.

Outside of her job at school, Olson enjoys spending time with her two sons, her rescue dog, Coda, and her cat, Phoebe. She noted that on the weekend, “We [my family and I] like to go to Santa Cruz a lot and hang out at the ocean or go on hikes.” Of course, she also reads extensively during her free time, especially historical fiction and mysteries. Heading into the spooky season, Mexican Gothic is her top recommendation; as she pointed out, “It’s a really good kind of haunted house type mystery.” Overall, if you are ever looking for your next novel or just someone to lean on, Olson is always happy to be there for you.