staff reader of the month

An interview with the College’s one and only English Co-ordinator, Ms Camilleri gave me a perspective on how empowering reading and literature can truly be, even though we constantly overlook the benefits of this skill. Conversing with Mrs Camilleri was especially enjoyable given her strong passion for reading and empowering young women. It made me stop once again to think about the issues we so easily take for granted on a daily basis.

Ms Camilleri explained that she didn’t remember specifically developing a passion for reading but that she always grew up around books from a very young age. She recalled buying books from the Book Club that was sent home from school and eagerly read picture books at a young age. After a while, Miss began drawing and illustrating her own picture books.

Ms Camilleri doesn’t recall having an absolute favourite genre. She read and enjoyed mostly fantasy and dystopian novels, however, she expressed a dislike for reading sci-fi novels. This was mainly due to the difficulty in relating to the usually male protagonists.

Fortunately, Ms Camilleri taught The Left Hand of Darkness, a sci-fi text required in Extension English. The novel’s characters were relatable to her. This just goes to show that we enjoy reading novels which we can personally relate with, even if we don’t like the genre.

Ms claims that reading should be an imperative part of any person’s life as it not only enables us to grow intellectually but to also become “better humans”. She reinforces the importance of reading as it assists in expanding vocabulary and that even reading for only 20 minutes per day has countless benefits. Moreover, reading on a regular basis helps us to become better, more humane people. This is because through reading we experience the lives of so many people, people we would not necessarily associate with normally and it allows for us to “develop more compassion for people and that makes you a better human being”.

As we are all well aware, literacy and numeracy week is fast approaching, so we wanted to ask Ms why literature was so important and relevant to young students like us. Literacy week is extremely important to Ms as she needs to express to us how important literature is considering the majority of the illiterate population is female. Ms strives to convey the vitality of knowledge which comes from books, as knowledge is what empowers us. Ms Camilleri went on to emphasise how significant literature is to us as young women, who want to experience gender equality. It is outrageous that it will take until 2053 and the only way we can work towards achieving equality, according to Miss, is if we learn the importance of literature and also how to use it and then value it. “Being able to be literate is really about gender equality as you can take on opportunities which are going to help empower you”. This is why Miss claims that reading and literature is crucial, as it enables us to become empowered, and as women have the knowledge to get out into the world and make a difference.

Talking to Ms Camilleri was not only informative but also extremely inspirational, as she was able to express to us the sheer importance of literature, how especially as young women it is going to help empower us and enable us to make a difference in our world. Talking with Ms Camilleri was an extreme pleasure and we’d like to congratulate her on being the Staff Reader of the Month.

-A Chahal and N Venu, Year 10

4 September 2019