When Kaayana Sharma was a preschooler at Baby Gator, she discovered her love of reading — a love so deep she self-published a book in elementary school.
Almost a decade later, she’s returning to the UF Early Childhood Collaboratory. This time, she’s there to inspire the next generation to pick up a book as early in life as she did.
The 16-year-old Eastside High School student recently completed her Eagle Scout service project by installing two lending libraries outside Baby Gator’s Lake Alice and Diamond Village locations, giving children and families free access to books they can borrow, keep and replace.
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouting America program, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America.
“I thought, ‘What better place to put a lending library and a project that means so much to me than the place where I started?’” Sharma said.
The project took months of planning. After her proposal was approved, Sharma coordinated volunteers, gathered book donations and organized workdays where members of Scouting America’s Troop 21 painted the libraries before installing them into concrete-filled planters.
Each library features an array of hand-painted designs including trees, owls, dragonflies and mushrooms meant to reflect the natural scenery surrounding the preschools.
A lending library is a book exchange system where readers can take books to read and leave books they no longer want. Unlike traditional libraries, lending libraries typically don’t have required return dates, operating on a simple “take a book, leave a book” model.
“The whole concept is that the books just keep changing because people sometimes bring their own books, and it soon begins to take the shape of the community that it's serving,” according to Sharma.
The biggest challenge, she said, was determining a sturdy installation method and coordinating construction logistics. But she found the process made her a stronger delegator.
For Nitya Rao, another 16-year-old Troop 21 member, volunteering for the project was part of the tradition of supporting fellow scouts as they complete the final requirements toward Eagle rank.
Rao spent two work days painting the libraries and decorative rocks to be placed around the facilities.
“Volunteering for an Eagle Scout project is always a big thing in our troop because it means that the scout is almost close to Eagle,” she said.
Rao is in the process of executing her own Eagle Scout project: building step stools for the Payne’s Prairie Visitor Center so children can reach the center’s telescopes. The projects mean a lot to the scouts, she added.
“It's genuinely the very last thing that we do, and it has a lot of significance,” Rao said.
Sharma’s lending library project is one of several Eagle Scout service projects completed by Troop 21, Gainesville's all-girl Scouting America troop. It was founded in 2019 when girls became allowed to pursue the Eagle Scout rank.
Troop 21 scoutmaster Kim Lovelady said each project showcases the scout’s personal interests while teaching leadership through service.
“The beautiful thing about each of the Eagle Scout projects is they very much are a reflection of the scout themselves in some way, shape or form,” Lovelady said.
Eagle Scout projects heavily emphasize servant leadership and teamwork as opposed to completing a project alone, she added. The scoutmaster saw this throughout Sharma’s project, she said, as she learned how to delegate responsibilities and direct volunteers.
“I love that our scouts have picked something that's actually meaningful,” Lovelady said. “They didn't just pick the easiest thing, but they picked something … that made a difference for the people they were serving.”
The partnership also fulfilled a longtime goal for Baby Gator.
Dawne Morrison, UF's assistant director of research and educational support, said the program had hoped to install lending libraries for years but never found a way to make it happen.
When Sharma approached Baby Gator with her proposal, the partnership quickly came together.
“We always want to promote literacy and family engagement,” Morrison said. “I was really interested because Kaayana had a really clear vision for how she was going to work.”
While there were many steps to the process, it was evident the community valued the lending libraries well before construction began. Once Victoria Alexander, one of Baby Gator’s administrative assistants, heard about Sharma’s Eagle Scout project, she purchased the libraries as a donation to the program.
While the donation greatly supported Sharma’s project, excitement for the lending libraries extended far beyond Baby Gator staff.
“The day that we did the installation … there were children literally waiting to be done taking photos so that they could get books from the library,” Morrison said.
The libraries aim to serve children of UF students, faculty and staff enrolled at Baby Gator while helping reduce barriers to early literacy for busy families, Morrison said.
The completion of the lending libraries means Sharma has now completed most major requirements to earn Eagle Scout rank.
Sharma returned to Baby Gator last week to read her book to the preschool class. When she returns years from now, she said she hopes to find worn doors, different books on the shelves and clear signs the libraries have been loved.
Contact Hailey Kon at hkon@alligator.org.
Hailey Kon is a fourth-year public relations and psychology double major serving as this summer's student government reporter. This is her first semester on staff at The Alligator, though she previously worked as a contributing writer for The Alligator and The Gainesville Sun. When she's not on campus, she can be found in the Dutch Bros drive-thru or a Ticketmaster queue trying to buy concert tickets.
