Duffy Role Model Assembly

LI: To understand how reading can change one's life.

Today we had Marc from Duffy come and talk to us about the importance of reading and how reading can make a big impact on your life.  Although Marc had some challenges in his life he used reading as a tool to get through the hard times. Marc believes that there is only CANs and not CAN’Ts.

He told us a story about a boy named Fred who struggled a lot in school because he read from right to left. Because of this, he was often bullied and continuously moved schools due to this. He began hanging out with people from the wrong crowd and acted out as a bad influence on him. As Fred grew older, he was imprisoned for borrowing cars without returning them. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but this is where his life began to turn.

In prison, he met a teacher who taught him how to read properly over the course of one year of his sentence. He took a ruler and showed him to move his eyes from left to right on the page. When he was released from prison, he struggled to get a job because of his criminal record. Then was he informed that he could have a job opportunity at Bunnings (a popular warehouse company).

He worked his way towards his goal and eventually opened his own business called 'Duffy Books in Homes'. He allows children and people from all around the world to read a variety of different books. He is now married with three/four older children and one adopted younger son.

At the end of the story, Marc revealed that the story about Fred actually represented what happened in his own life. This means that everything that happened to Fred actually happened to Marc. This proved that there is always an opportunity to make a bad situation good and you can always work your way up to success.

I found the words that Marc said very motivating and inspiring because Marc proved to us that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. This story was very encouraging because it was interesting and amazing.