San Tan school gets 'little library' in late teacher's honor

Queen Creek’s San Tan Heights K-8 in the Florence Unified School District now has its own Little Free Library.

The Great Minds Ed company purchased the library in honor of Sydna Zilm, a San Tan Valley resident and educator who died in February at age 61.

Zilm began her teaching career on the Navajo Reservation and later worked in the Chandler and Florence Unified School districts, according to her obituary from San Tan Memorial Gardens at Schnepf Farms.

Because Zilm loved building knowledge through reading, leaders at the school and district want to honor her memory by encouraging children and adults to borrow  a book and/or contribute their own to the Little Free Library, according to a post on FUSD’s Facebook page.

“Simply stop by the library outside the front of the school, and take a look,” the post stated.

San Tan Heights K-8 is located at 2500 W. San Tan Heights Blvd. in Queen Creek.

Little Free Library is a nonprofit group based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Its mission is to expand access to books though its volunteer-led Little Free Library book-sharing boxes. The boxes are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day and are freely accessible, according to the organization’s website.

You can find other Little Free Libraries across the county and state on the group’s website, https://littlefreelibrary.org/map/ .