Teens have a ‘super’ day at the library

By PAMELA GRANT

Cove Leader-Press

Teens donned capes and costumes to cosplay their favorite hero or villain for a day of superhero/villain activities and trivia at the library. The Copperas Cove Public Library hosted a Super Hero Day for teenagers as part of their Summer Reading Program. On Wednesday, they invited teens between the ages of 11 and 16 to dress up as either their favorite hero or villain and participate in a day of hero/villain-themed activities. The event began at 2 p.m. While many of the teenagers opted to attend the event without a costume, some chose to dress as their favorite hero or villain. “I’ve always liked the idea of a masked superhero that uses weapons,” said Bradley Buckhouse (12) who came dressed as Hitman, his own superhero persona, for the event. “I was going for a Green Arrow and Damian Wayne concept.” Buckhouse designed and crafted his own costume for the character which he said took him about two months to make. To make his costume, he was able to buy some of the pieces, but others, such as his hood, he had to sew on himself. Buckhouse also crafted his own weapons for his character using items like bamboo, the tip of a broken wooden sword, and lots and lots of duct tape. “He can do anything with duct tape,” said Bradley Buckhouse’s grandmother, Wanda Gunther. “I’m very proud of him. I know he did a good job.” While the other teens preferred to dress as heroes, like Captain America, Preston Wonack (11) chose to come to the event dressed as Kaos from Skylanders because, “He’s the worst villain ever in Skylanders.” Wonack said that he definitely prefers the villains over the heroes. “They can do better tricks than the good guys,” said Wonack. The event kicked off with a trivia event where two teams of teenagers faced off to show off their knowledge of villains and heroes from Marvel, DC, and Disney. Questions like the true identity of Superman and Black Widow were answered with ease, but some, like the name of the villain from Disney’s Mulan were a bit more difficult for the teens. The teenagers could also participate in hero themed activities like matching a hero with their identity, matching heroes with their love interests, and filling out a Hunger Games themed word search. After the trivia segment, each teenager got to decorate and design their own heroic, or villainous, cape. Even though many hadn’t chosen to dress as a hero or villain, most chose to create their own cape. The library provided all the materials necessary to craft the capes, and teens quickly set to decorating their capes with stars, hearts, letters and words. Captain America cosplayer, Othniel Emerson (15), crafted a cape emblazoned with a ‘C’ and stars, while the Hitman cosplayer designed an insignia for his own character. “I just like Tupac,” said Dziari Jones (11) who designed her cape in honor of the rapper. “I already have a hat, so I might as well make a cape.” The superhero/villain event was one of the library’s final events in the Summer Reading Program. The Summer Reading Club Party will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. for those who met their summer reading goals. “I’ve been volunteering for the last eight or nine years and I’ve always thought that it’s important to give back to the community,” said Friends of the Library volunteer Georgiana Cleverley. “This is one of the ways that I’m able to do that. As a kid, I spent hours and hours at the library…but now, reading is starting to go out of style. Kids nowadays are too busy with video games and their phones… and I’m hoping that with programs like this, it’ll give kids the ability to learn to enjoy the library…I think [the Summer Reading Program] encourages them… Even though the prizes aren’t huge big things, just the act of winning a prize motivates some of them.” “I do think it spurs them on,” added Linda Acock, another volunteer with Friends of the Library. “They like the sense of accomplishment… and I love just getting to see them get the pure enjoyment of reading.”