By Erin Chernisky, Volunteer Services Program Manager
“Do you play chess?”
All it took was one question to change the scope of John Weidner's volunteer duties at Pohick Regional Library.
In hopes of starting a chess club, the branch’s Youth Services Manager had been querying all the staff and volunteers without any luck. That is until they spoke to John. It turns out, not only did John play chess, but he was his high school’s chess champion! Soon, in addition to also being a circulation volunteer and book sale sorter with the library Friends group, John was adding Chess Club Leader to his volunteering resume.
In 2015 when the Pohick branch closed for renovations, several staff and volunteers, including John, landed at Kings Park Library. With them came Pohick’s chess sets and thus the Kings Park Chess Club was born. Once the Pohick branch reopened, John decided he wanted to keep both groups going. Now he, along with other volunteers, leads monthly chess clubs at both branches.
These popular clubs attract mostly elementary-age school children who are excited to play and practice the game. John takes the brand-new players under his wing and helps them learn the rules by teaching them a mini game that he created for this purpose. Kids that already know the basics get paired with other students to play. Once their game ends, they switch partners and start again, playing four to five games with different people over the course of the hour-long program. “My goal for each session is for students to leave saying they had a good time. If that happens then I consider it a success,” says John.
John started playing chess at a young age, fascinated by the logic of the game. “I enjoy solving problems and majored in math in college,” he explains. In addition to chess, he also developed an interest in mineralogy. After retiring from careers as both a systems engineer and math teacher, he started looking for new hobbies which led him to auditing a community college geology class. Fast forward and he is now involved with several area mineral clubs, serves as Treasurer of the Mineralogical Society of the District of Columbia, and participates in outreach activities educating people about minerals and fossils.
Recently while volunteering at the Kings Park Library book sale, he noticed a boy playing with a couple of rocks that he found outside. John struck up a conversation and the two of them had a lively discussion about the rocks. When it was time for him to go, the boy wanted to know when John would be back at the library so they could talk more about rocks. As a result, John has added one more line to his resume and now leads the monthly Junior Geologists Lab program at Kings Park Library. “Children are invited to bring in their own rocks and fossils and we talk about what they are and their different characteristics.”
If you would like to join John to play chess or chat about minerals, check out our events page for upcoming sessions at bit.ly/FCPL_events.