By Isaiah Heinz
Dr. Tara Gold was voted “Most likely to be a librarian” in her fifth-grade class. The prophecy finally came true when she became Riverside’s newest media coordinator.
Dr. Gold and Jenna Wine, Riverside’s other media coordinator, work together to manage the books as well as assist students with projects. Gold is also assists with technology at the school.
“I’m in charge of all the electronics, computers, etc.,” she said.
Even if she doesn’t know how they work, she will still try to help.
“Students will come to me with a question about something that I don’t entirely understand,” she said. “There are people in charge of specific things, like PowerSchool, so I try to help with their problem but if it is something like a forgotten password, I can’t do anything about it so I can send them to the person in charge of it.”
Gold got her undergraduate degree at UNC-Chapel Hill, her master’s at UNC Greensboro, and her Ph.D. in education at UNC-Chapel Hill. Before becoming a librarian she was a teacher at Millbrook High school in Raleigh.
“I was a middle school teacher always working on research projects with the school librarian,” said Gold.
The librarian suggested that Gold became a librarian because of how much she enjoyed the job.
“[My favorite part of being a librarian is] definitely hanging out with students. I don’t have to grade assignments or assign homework,” she said. “Also, every day is different.”
For four months Gold taught SAT prep in Seoul, South Korea to students who wanted to attend an American college.
“I was working on my Ph.D. at the time, and I needed a summer job,” she said. “The Princeton Review was going on in Korea, students would go to school in the day and do a specific type of school at night. It’s essentially cram school. I taught SAT prep to Korean students who were trying to get into American colleges. I taught eight hours a day for a month, each month was a new group of students, silver league, gold league, and ivy league. Some of the students would be signed up for multiple months in order to get the best education.”
Outside of school, Gold likes to read and watch Tik Tok.
“My favorite book is 1984 by George Orwell,” she said.
Gold is also a foster parent. She and her husband currently have three foster children, ages four, two, and one. She said that they “wanted to be a parent for kids without a home.”
“The goal is always reunification,” Gold said. “People say ‘I could never foster a child, I’d get too attached.’ I do it because I need to take the pain of when they leave. I need to help these kids.”
As a rule, she and her husband will always be the last stop for their foster children, so if they can’t be reunited with their parents they will adopt the kids. So far that hasn’t happened. Each time the kids were reunited with their parents.
“Sometimes you know the case is going to be an adoptive case, but even so the goal is always reunification,” she said.
