{"id":383,"date":"2019-08-23T15:33:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T05:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/?post_type=article&#038;p=383"},"modified":"2019-08-23T15:33:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T05:33:11","slug":"message-from-the-principal-2","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/article\/message-from-the-principal-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Message From the Principal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-279 size-thumbnail alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/08\/DSC_9753-1-320x320.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/08\/DSC_9753-1-320x320.jpg 320w, https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/08\/DSC_9753-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Paulina Skerman<\/h3>\n<p><strong>College Principal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This week we have celebrated Book Week and this year\u2019s theme is <em>Reading is My Secret Power! <\/em>Sadly, with the advent of computer games, Netflix, Facebook updates and Tweets (that are made up of no more than 280 characters), reading a book or lengthy magazine article has for many become a thing of the past.\u00a0 We should not develop habits that take us away from the joy of reading substantial writings because reading is indeed powerful and transformative. Avid readers do have secret powers! They are able to lose themselves in a well-written novel travelling to new places, meeting new people and visiting different eras. Reading promotes mindfulness, keeping us in the present, letting tension drain away and allowing for relaxation to take place.\u00a0 Reading expands our vocabulary; good readers are good writers and they become confident speakers. Articulate people have greater impact and more opportunities to access great careers.\u00a0 Reading aids memory improvement forcing us to remember each character\u2019s story. Every new memory we create forges new brain pathways and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall.\u00a0 Reading also makes us great at problem solving \u2013 either through working out \u2018whodunit\u2019 in a murder mystery or through analysing the way characters solve problems they encounter giving us new tools with dealing with problems we meet in our lives. Reading improves imagination, focus and concentration. A reader is easily entertained, anytime, anywhere.\u00a0 Characters in novels provide another perspective, they help shape how we see ourselves and our world and offer a thoughtful kind of wisdom on which to reflect.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I leave you with my favourite words from my favourite books:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\">\n<p>\u201cShe was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines.\u00a0 She was beautiful, for the way she thought.\u00a0 She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved.\u00a0 She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn\u2019t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks.\u00a0 She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.\u201d &#8211;<em>The Great Gatsby<\/em> by F Scott Fitzgerald<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view\u2026until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.\u201d &#8211; <em>To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> by Harper Lee<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are your best thing\u201d &#8211;<em>Beloved<\/em> by Toni Morrison<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen\u201d &#8211;<em>Winnie the Poo<\/em>h by A.A Milne<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you\u2019ll go.&#8221; &#8211;<em>I can read with my eyes shut<\/em> by Dr Seuss<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Blessings<\/p>\n<p>Paulina<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paulina Skerman College Principal &nbsp; This week we have celebrated Book Week and this year\u2019s theme is Reading is My Secret Power! Sadly, with the advent of computer games, Netflix, Facebook updates and Tweets (that are made up of no more than 280 characters), reading a book or lengthy magazine article has for many become [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-383","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}