The A-Team: AASL’s 2024 Emerging Leaders Are Already Making Waves

 

The 2024 class of ALA Emerging Leaders truly lived up to their nickname, the “A-Team.” Representing the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), this standout group—Mia Gittlen, Cassi Flores, Charlotte Chung, Dawn Shirk, Kristin Tarnas, and Ariana Varela—has already become a team of rising stars to watch.

Each brought incredible energy and vision to the Emerging Leaders program, and their professional accomplishments since then have been nothing short of inspiring:

⭐ Mia Gittlen was appointed to the 2025 AASL National Conference Committee last year and has been helping plan next year’s conference in St. Louis. Read more →

🌟 Charlotte Chung was selected as one of just ten librarians honored through a partnership between the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York for her exceptional impact. See the feature →

💡 Cassi Flores and the entire A-Team are preparing to present at the 2025 AASL National Conference in St. Louis, where they’ll share their collaborative project and the lessons learned from their Emerging Leaders experience. View their session →

The Emerging Leaders program may last just one year, but the influence of these six remarkable librarians is clearly just beginning. Their creativity, collaboration, and advocacy continue to shape the future of school librarianship.

Learn more about their project here: The Emerging Leaders Team.