Bushfires! Snake alarms! It’s all just another day in the beautiful and resilient towns around the Gladstone.
Today we visited Mount Larcom, a high-top with grades Prep-9, as well Nagoorin, a one-teacher school with 15 students ranging from Prep-Year 6.
Students and teachers alike expressed their appreciation for the author visits. As one teacher said, it is rare enough for authors to visit Gladstone, but even when they do, they almost never get to the small and vital schools in the surrounding region. The look of joy and inspiration on the faces of students and teachers alike was incredibly rewarding, making all those hours of driving through haze more than worth it.
Over the course of each school visit, the authors create a special connection with the students. These young people striving to find their way in the world absorb the authors’ stories and insights, and often share their own stories, hopes, aspirations, and fears. And the authors respond with patience, care, and encouragement, proving again and again the transformative power of reading and writing.
#From Samantha...
Okay people. It’s happened. No, not the world gone mad and America electing Trump!
I’m talking about falling in love – with the cutest schools ever. Lance and I had the most wonderful experience visiting a one teacher school in the Boyne Valley today, and another amazing school at Mt Larcom. The lousy internet was more than compensated for by the innovative and community minded kids, who blew us away with their independence and attitude. When I asked Gabby, a preppie from Mt Larcom if she had a ‘story’ she’d like to write, she promptly launched into how her Nanna had to sew up her ‘lamb’ and clean up the blood after it was ripped apart. There was a definite hush before we discovered it was a toy lamb, and the blood was from Nanna’s finger when she inadvertently pricked it while sewing. Phew! But a definite story teller in the making. And it was like that all day. Country kids, with a healthy respect for life and death, and no fear of a good story.
My kind of people.
Blog content courtesy Meg Vann, our Producer on the ground in Gladstone
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