State school librarian group honors Lincoln High’s Escamilla

The Nebraska School Librarians Association has honored Lincoln High School Associate Principal Ryan Escamilla with its Distinguished School Administrator Award.

The award honors a school administrator “who has made worthy contributions to the operations of an exemplary school library and to advancing the role of the school library in the educational program.”

The award carries particular meaning for Escamilla.

“With my mother being a public library librarian and growing up volunteering in libraries, I can not express the amount of honor and pride I feel in this award,” he said. “I know the crucial tasks that libraries perform within our communities, in both our schools and cities as a whole. We all live in a better society when knowledge and freedom of speech are so easily found within the walls of our communities' libraries.”

In her nomination letter, longtime Lincoln High media specialist Paula McClung said she’s never worked with an administrator who displayed better leadership traits than Escamilla.

“When decisions need to be made that affect a staff member of our library or our library program, he comes directly to us and seeks our involvement in that decision,” she said. “His keen sense of staff relationships and the way he seeks to gather information is certainly one of the most valued skills an administrator could have, and with Ryan, this is certainly the case in all he does.”

“We’ve tackled some long days and tough situations together. I’ve never observed him lose his poise in front of students or staff,” said Lincoln High media technician Carter Hulinsky. “He puts the needs of our students and school library above his own. He never takes any credit for any of his efforts, and would never consider himself deserving of this distinguished award.”

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