Girls' School Father and Daughter Breakfast
Girls' School Father and Daughter Breakfast
September 05, 2019 at 9:35 AM
The unique bond between a father and daughter was fully evident at this week’s Girls' School Father and Daughter Breakfast. Following Father’s Day, dads, their daughters and guests shared a special morning together at the Ellerslie Events Centre.
Principal, Ms Juliet Small welcomed the guests and reminded the fathers of the vital role they play in their daughters’ lives, stating - ‘you are a major influence in your daughter’s life. You have a key role as the first man in your daughter’s life. You set the tone, shaping values, setting family rules, expectations and affirming self -esteem. You influence what your daughters expect, how she expects to be treated and her view of the world.’
Ms Small thanked the fathers for the support that they give to the girls before breakfast was served and Reverend Hardie said grace. The room was abuzz as the fathers and daughters socialised over a delicious meal!
The guest speaker for the morning was Phil Somerville. Phil is not only an Old Collegian but also is an actor and stuntman who has featured in the likes of Mission Impossible and Iron Man. Despite his love and passion for acting, he decided to give up the Hollywood lifestyle and move back home to New Zealand with his family and focus on reducing the carbon footprint. Phil sailed for 6 months, all the way from Los Angeles to New Zealand to test how much plastic is in our waters. In his travels, he was not only sampling the waters for microplastics but he also stopped at nine different islands to educate the locals on different ways in which they can help keep our waters clean. Phil spoke about the food chain and how by eating fish, we as humans are also consuming plastic. He said, ‘more than 8 million tonnes of rubbish gets dumped into the ocean each year and that there are around 240 million tonnes of plastic waste in our oceans today.’ While sailing, Phil discovered that in more than 80% of his water tests, plastic was present. This fuelled his motivation to educate people and start the initiative, Eat Less Plastic. Phil now travels around the world sharing his story and ways in which people can help keen our waters clean.
Deputy Principal, Mrs Jill Wahlstrom closed by thanking the guests for attending and gave particular thanks to the Parents and Friends who did a fantastic job organising the event.
