ASTORIA – St. Demetrios School in Astoria had the honor and pleasure of hosting the multi-talented Greek-American writer, actress, and model Eleni Fuiaxis on February 28 for a presentation of her children’s book, Picky Patrick.

This event was held in the context of strengthening and promoting the love of reading at the school, to familiarize students with books and reading, but also to gradually establish a positive relationship with literature. This relationship will help them develop their critical and creative thinking, activate their imagination and ingenuity, develop their emotional intelligence and cultivate their language skills in an indirect and experiential way, contributing to the children’s all-round development.

At St. Demetrios, they believe that the school is the ideal place to carry out such activities that center on and reference books. A great help in cultivating a love of reading is introducing authors to the children. Author Eleni Fuiaxis presented her book to the students through a playful and interactive way, creating a zone of freedom and creativity, in which the children were able to express their thoughts, needs and concerns which is a rare opportunity for them. Through the discussion that followed and their active participation, the children became interested in including this extracurricular book in their everyday life.

Eleni Fuiaxis also spoke to grades 7-12 about how she managed her career choices and also made some recommendations on how they could achieve their future goals. She particularly emphasized how important kindness, empathy, patience and compassion are in our lives.

St. Demetrios School is planning similar events in future which will also focus on the students and books.