Around the corner and to your right, if you keep driving past Target and Best Buy, there are many large trees and houses. Then, if you make a left turn you’ll find the entrance to the Woodneath Library Center on Flintlock Road.

This is a beautiful library that is part renovated historic home and part modern library building. Woodneath has a huge field with a walking trail, a drive-thru for books and a high-tech belt for book returns.

Inside of this library can be found polished wooden floors, glass cabinets and a setup that is much like the one in the PLC. There’s a computer hub at the front of the room for everyone who wants to work on a device. The bookshelves are in the back portion of the library just after the computer hub. To the right, hidden in the back corner is the kids area. And, yes the kids have their own devices to play on and a plethora of children’s books.

In the back left part of Woodneath is the teen section. They have summer, winter, fall and – you guessed it – spring reading competitions for teens. Whenever a teen finishes a reading list, they get a free book.

There are snazzier prizes for completing the adult reading competitions – such as mugs.

The parts of this library that I really appreciate are the tours they give of the historical slave plantation home, the book creator machine and the special visits authors make. The historical slave plantation home is refurbished and maintained to a certain degree and is really cool to explore if you like American history. It is a very large and expensive home, and it’s not very hard to imagine how beautiful it used to be.

Woodneath also has a machine that allows you to create a physical copy or copies of any books, novels or novellas you’ve written. It does cost money, but the machine is really awesome to look at if you’re at all into gadgets – and getting a book made is still a reasonable price.

Prominent and famous authors sometimes come  to the library to discuss their latest novels, answer questions or sign the audience’s copies of books. If you keep an eye on their website, the library posts the next author that will visit.

The last author that graced Woodneath’s presence was Gillian Flynn a couple of years ago. Do make sure that if you find out a famous author will be there that you RSVP ahead of time on their website.

Living in the midwest requires an arsenal of clothing for different weather conditions. In one season, you may be wearing shorts one day and a puffer jacket the next. Some can find maintaining a good selection difficult when dorm closet space is so limited. Thrifting is a great, eco-friendly way to frequently update your wardrobe and donate unwanted pieces in the same trip.

For your convenience, I have ranked all of the thrift stores within three miles of William Jewell College’s campus. I ranked on a five-star scale using four criteria: selection, affordability, organization and the integrity of the business itself.

4. Goodwill

Selection: 3/5

Affordability: 4/5

Organization: 3/5

Integrity: 2/5

Yes, we have a Goodwill here – it’s located around two miles northwest of Jewell’s campus. However, I do not recommend taking the trip to visit this particular Goodwill. For such a large building, its selection is quite small. It still has the low prices characteristic of Goodwill, but those prices come at the cost of contributing to a company with a shady past that includes paying disabled workers less than minimum wage. As well, Goodwill stores throw away a significant amount of their donations. However, apparently some Goodwill locations recently went bagless, so there’s that. Good for them.

Overall score: 60/100

3. Savers

Selection: 5/5

Affordability: 2/5

Organization: 5/5

Integrity: 2/5

There is a significant amount of appeal stored in the sheer size and wonder of Savers. It’s huge and the stock changes constantly. They’re great about keeping their racks seasonally appropriate, even for specific holidays. The organization of the store is very sensible. However, their prices are often outrageous, even with their 20 percent student discount. This company has had its fair share of scandals and throws away many of its donations. However, Savers gets honors points for being open late on most evenings, which is a rarity for a thrift store.

Overall score: 70/100

2. Immaculata Manor Thrift Store

Selection: 3/5

Affordability: 5/5

Organization: 3/5

Integrity: 5/5

A thrift store located next to Price Chopper on Brown Street that is unknown to most Jewell students, Manor is a small thrift store that solely pursues funding for the Immaculata Manor organization, a non-profit that supports individuals with developmental disabilities and helps to offer them independent supported living (ISL) residences and better integration within the Liberty community. All of the workers are volunteers, and the prices are incredibly right. On most days, the most you’ll pay for an item of clothing is two bucks.

However, the racks are jam-packed and clothing does not get rotated very often, so you cannot visit very regularly. Their website is sparse, so it is difficult to tell what they do with their leftover items. The organization of the store is not very intuitive, though the women’s clothing is color coordinated. They also have begun to stock more furniture and household-related items. Overall, this is a lovely place to spend your money!

Overall Score: 80/100

1. Hillcrest Hope

Selection: 4/5

Affordability: 5/5

Organization: 5/5

Integrity: 5/5

Chances are that you have driven by this place hundreds of times and never thought to go inside. I urge you to visit this wonderful store sometime – this thrift store donates all of its proceeds to its parent organization, which holistically supports low-income families within the Liberty community. As a thrift store, it excels in almost every area: it is impeccably organized, the clothes are cleaned before being racked, its large selection changes fairly often, it offers a large selection of non-clothing items and 95 percent of what is donated either gets sold or recycled. Plus, the whole store has Goodwill-level prices!

Overall score: 95/100