On Thursday and Friday, during Library Week, Year 9s and 10s were privileged to be visited by New Zealand author David Riley. He teaches drama at Tangaroa College, loves KFC, Rugby League and writes in his spare time.
First, he asked us if we like reading or not. Many people love reading and shot their hands up straight away, while some others dislike it. At this moment, he mentions that we read everyday, in text, emails, social media and books. He told us about two brothers whose lives were changed because of reading books, Ben and Curtis Carson
Ben Carson and his older brother, Curtis, lived with their mum who limited their time watching television and required them to read and write book reports on two library books a week after their poor academic performance. Reading about rocks, Carson could soon identify numerous rocks that met his eyes and he became smarter when they learnt about them in Science class. From being the class clown who answered questions stupidly, he became a top academic. He grew up to be a neurosurgeon and is famous because of his operation on the Binder twins, whose heads were connected but separated in an operation Carson lead. He retired in July 2013 and is now the 17th and current Unites States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. His brother’s life was also changed by reading, as Curtis went on to become an aeronautical engineer.
Believe it or not, Steven Adam’s life was also changed by reading, and his story is like Ben Carson’s story in many ways. He has older siblings, was the class clown and his parents split up. He lived with his father until his tragic death when Steven was young. From that moment, he went through depression and lost all motivation. He didn’t want to be the class clown anymore, he just wanted to stay at home, doing nothing.
His brother, Warren, asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and Steven replied that he wanted to be an NBA basketball player. In response, Warren told him that he had to work hard physically and academically, and took him to Wellington where Steven was given a new school to attend, Scots College, and a new supervisor named Blossom Cameron. Similar to Warren’s response, Blossom told Steven that being an NBA player required him to go to university in America, which meant getting at least 60 credits in NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3. To get 180 credits in total meant reading and studying. Steven had a grudge against doing a lot of hard work academically, but he still did it. He never gave up. Soon after that, Blossom assigned Steven a daily routine, which is…
6:00am – Basketball Training
8:00am – School
3:00pm – Homework
5:00pm – Dinner and TV News
7:00pm – Basketball Training
9:00pm – Reading
9:30pm – Sleep
Eventually, he did well at Scots College and graduated in December 2011. He went to University in the USA and is now playing for Oklahoma City Thunder.
All that we could do is listen to how these role models were inspired by reading to never give up and be the best they could be. David’s stories enthused and touched the hearts of the Year 9s and 10s.
We thank David Riley, and the other authors who visited us during Library Week, for taking their time to inspire and encourage the young minds of the students here at Sancta Maria College.
Ethan Siao
