Literacy Days, some days where we read books all the day and just that. Is that true?

Many schools celebrate Literacy Day by only telling us to read the books in the library, that’s it, after that, then it’s over. In my school, when I was still in Junior High School, we did the same thing too. We only read books until we were satisfied or until our eyes were tired. However, did we, as students, know what we are reading? Did we get anything afterwards? Did we enjoy and appreciate Literacy Day? All we got was just the boredom and nothing useful. We didn’t even know what were we reading.

We don’t know anything about Literacy Days. Worst of all, sometimes, even after we finish reading a book, we don’t feel any change or even understand what we read. Instead of having a day that should be able to develop intelligence in students, it becomes a useless and boring day.

But today, at SMAK St. Eugenius Purwokerto, we were given a book that was not only to read but also gave reviews on and expressed our opinions about. In such a way, Literacy Day is not merely a “Reading Day”, it is really carried out and flowed in every student at SMAK today.

“I think the book is about…”

“The things that I can capture from this book are…”

“The messages given by this book are…”

Various opinions were dominated with fun, joy and enthusiasm, the day was carried out pleasantly. Not only recommending the books that each of us has been read, we also learned to understand, deepen, question, and draw our own conclusions about the book. We were given three whole days of Literacy Day to read, then concluded, and share it to our friends and teachers/staffs about the book we read. The discussion was full of endless conversation and in a way fun during the Literacy Day at SMAK Santo Eugenius Purwokerto.

Literacy Day should indeed be designated as a day where we have fun from reading books to then sharing opinions and messages, where there is a possibility of getting a different persona that we have built through that book that we have read that day.

 

Now, I will tell you the story of this year’s Literacy Day at SMAK Santo Eugenius Purwokerto.

It all started a day before Literacy Day, when we were having Morning Mass as usual, when a teacher said “Announcement, tomorrow is the Literacy Day and your book has arrived. Please, remember about when the time and don’t be late. No more question! Enjoy your day in class”. We have all been waiting for that day, the day when the book we want to read has arrived. After the Mass was over, we started discussing the literacy day. Some imagined what the content of the book would be, as my friend assumed; “I ordered a book about public speaking yesterday! Surely after finishing reading, I will be good at speaking in public spontaneously”. There were also those who started to envision about how they wanted to write about the content and message conveyed by the book; “The book I ordered talks about maturing yourself. Surely the essence of the book is about…”. And there are also those who start to conclude that the book we have ordered contains some quotes and deep messages that are cool and motivating; “The book I ordered is about the history of the Catholic Church. Surely the content is a lot of references from the Bible, I will learn a lot from this book!”.

That was the feeling I felt when I found out that we, on Literacy Day, would not only read but also share what we got from the book we had read, what message the book was trying to convey, our personal opinions/experiences/feelings about the book, and apply the learned life lessons after. Above all that, we should never forget to find the Golden Quote from the book.

Not to mention, the book that I always wanted to read for a long time finally landed my hand. Not only for a display or bookshelf decoration but really to be read. I felt so excited and carried away in a dream about this Literacy Day. The part that I like the most about this Literacy Day is the Sharing Session where we shared our opinions, reasons, meanings, and messages which each of us would get personally through the books that we read. “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron is the book I previously referred to. If you are an artist who loves to make art but experience obstacles/challenges that makes it difficult for you to create your art, you could say that you are starting to lose creativity and don’t know how to get it, then this book will be perfect for you!

All the fun was finally overtaken when the next day arrived, The Literacy Day. We were all excited about the arrival of the book. We didn’t really know what kind of book we were going to read, the numbers of page and chapter, how thick the book was, whether the cover was good or not, whether the book was as good as the website showed, and many more questions filled our minds.

A lot of questions emerged in my mind;

“What if the book doesn’t meet my expectations? What should I do?”

“Hopefully the book isn’t too thick, it’ll be a long time I’ll spend on just reading it. Boring!”

“God, I’m regretting ordering that book! I’m afraid I can’t read all of the page and chapter; I’ll get tired of typing on the computer later!”

And what ifthere are many other complaints from us. At first, I also felt some kind of regret for ordering a book called “The Artist’s Way”, because I was afraid that I didn’t even understand anything about the book, what message the book wants to convey, and the foreign terms of the book that require us to think twice. Maybe those thoughts appeared because we have somewhat low literacy? Or maybe we were the students who always felt paranoid and regret for every choice we would take at the end.

However, all those regrets disappeared when we all started reading our chosen books seriously. It wasn’t that bad and maybe even exceeded our expectations. We all enjoyed the literacy day for 3 whole days filled with fun. However, there were students who felt slight regret for choosing a book that turns out to be thicker than they thought.

That is the whole story of my personal experience during Literacy Day at SMAK Santo Eugenius Purwokerto. In conclusion, it is a fun day that can add knowledge, insight and intelligence to the students of this school. Hopefully, after you read this article, you will also be inspired to start reading books seriously like us.

 

Written by: Chelsea Jessica (Grade X, Class of 2026)

Reviewed by: Miss Clara

SMAK Santo Eugenius Purwokerto

02/09/2026