Arlington Heights Librarian Tapped as New Youth Commissioner

What Tom Spicer has learned as a teen librarian at Arlington Heights Memorial Library is teens want to feel empowered.

He hopes to bring that knowledge to his new role on the village’s Youth Commission.

“I’m really looking forward to working with the teens to see what they want to do,” Spicer said.  “Working as a teen librarian for six years, I found teens today want to feel empowered. They want to show they can make a difference.”

The commission is made up of six adult members and seven youth members who serve a one-year term. Commissioners provide recommendations to the village board on issues related to the welfare of youth and promotes youth programs, the village’s website states.

Spicer was appointed and sworn in Monday, but he has already been working closely with the Youth Commission. The library’s Teen Advisory Group is collaborating with the commission on a project, a teen job fair.

It will be the first teen job fair in the village and youth commissioners have already started approaching local businesses to participate in the fair, Spicer said.

The job fair is an example of the kind of thing he’d like to do on the commission, said Spicer, who grew up in Barrington and graduated from Indiana University.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said of his new role.

“We are very excited to make this appointment,” Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder said after swearing Spicer onto the commission.

Spicer’s term ends April 2016.