This year marks the 25th anniversary of Martin Handford’s brilliant series of books “Where’s Wally”, but for those attending the final wrap up event of Mentone Grammar’s National Year of Reading Program held in the Gregory Fish Library on Tuesday 4th December, the focus was on Where’s George?!
Dressed in his old school uniform, George Ivanoff, author of Young Adult novels, Old Mentonian and our Patron MGRA – Mentone Grammar Reading Ambassador – blended into the crowd of students who came to celebrate the culmination of the National Year of Reading 2012 at Mentone Grammar. Joining George at this event were a number of student MGRAs from Eblana, Bayview and Frogmore campuses, as well as teacher and parent MGRAs.
Thanking George for the generous giving of his time, Head of Library, Miffy Farquharson also highlighted support from our school’s administration and all of the Library Staff who have worked tirelessly to inspire and ignite an enthusiasm for reading across the school.
As student MGRAs received certificates noting their involvement, Miffy thanked everyone for their support and involvement in what has been a fabulous year which saw a total of 48 National Year of Reading events held at Mentone Grammar throughout the year.
In response to a query of plans for next year, library staff were quick to dub 2013 as National Year of Reading + 1. Those attending were told that being a MGRA does not end with a shift to the new year. Instead they were told “Once a MGRA ….. Always a MGRA”. Together with current MGRAs, new recruits will be canvassed and badged in 2013 so that we can continue our journey of inspiring reading.