Year 7 students who had taken part in the College’s reading challenge, Book Quest, were invited to the Learning Resource Centre for an evening to celebrate their success.  Book Quest is a 30 stage reading challenge that students have thrown themselves into with gusto.  Some students have not only completed all 30 challenges, which included reading poems, books set in a different country, classics and Shakespeare, but have also completed the Secret Quest, this means they’ve read over 30 books this year.

Andy Briggs is a screenwriter, novelist, and an amazing entertainer.  He wowed both students and parents alike with his descriptions of gorilla smells, drone racing, and spy skills.  Writing books means research, and for Andy this meant exploring the deepest jungles and climbing live volcanoes; not what you imagine a writer doing. Andy was very vocal about how everyone can be a story teller; after all, the songs, games and TV shows that you may enjoy on a daily basis are all written by someone, so you don’t have to just read literature to enjoy a good story.  He also told students, to the horror of their parents, that dreams of being a professional YouTuber were legitimate as making YouTube videos required a lot of hard work: practising and rehearsing, writing scripts, editing clips, adding sound, and even more.

Andy said that ideas can come from anything and lead you anywhere.  He was given a drone for Christmas and from that he has written a brand new action packed book all about Drone Racing, one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Even a little idea can lead to big things, so if you have an idea bouncing around in your head, let it out and get creative!