{"id":1396,"date":"2025-11-07T08:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T20:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/booksinhomes.org.nz\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2025-11-12T09:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:42:10","slug":"how-sparking-a-passion-for-reading-and-a-curiosity-to-learn-led-to-studying-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksinhomes.org.nz\/how-sparking-a-passion-for-reading-and-a-curiosity-to-learn-led-to-studying-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"How sparking a passion for reading and a curiosity to learn led to studying medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1396\" class=\"elementor elementor-1396\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-22960e0f e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"22960e0f\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4babc3d5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4babc3d5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Meet\u00a0Urata Emily-Rose Sofai from Wellington<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><strong>What are you doing\/where are now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m currently working as a junior doctor on the Obstetrics and Gynaecology ward at Wellington Hospital. I\u2019m also studying for a post-graduate qualification in Obstetrics and Medical Gynaecology through the University of Otago.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was your journey to where you are now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I went to Beach Haven Primary School in Auckland and I remember Duffy Books in Homes coming to our school and getting the opportunity to choose books that we loved. It was a really exciting time for everyone at school when Duffy was coming. It brought immense joy to all the students, especially those who didn\u2019t have as much access to books growing up. It was a really, really special time. It also sparked my passion for reading and curiosity for learning \u2013 I became the kid who LOVED reading and visiting the library (and reading all their \u2018summer reading books\u2019 before the summer holidays). This curiosity for learning lead me to study medicine and now I\u2019m studying for a post graduate qualification.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was your favourite book and what book do you recommend people read?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My favourite book as a kid was the Geronimo and Thea Stilton series \u2013 it was the most chosen book series at my school. I wish I\u2019d read the \u2018Harry Potter\u2019 book series earlier as I enjoyed them so much. As an adult, I\u2019d recommend the \u2018I Am Not Esther\u2019 which is a five book psychological thriller series. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s one piece of advice you&#8217;d give kids today?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My favourite proverb is \u201c<em>O le ala i le pule o le tautua<\/em>\u201d which translates to \u201cThe pathway to leadership is through service\u201d. I\u2019d also say to keep going, not to let anyone put their expectations onto you and be resilient, it can be a challenge but it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet former Duffy kid, Urata Emily-Rose Sofai from Wellington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How sparking a passion for reading and a curiosity to learn led to studying medicine - Duffy Books in Homes New Zealand<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/booksinhomes.org.nz\/how-sparking-a-passion-for-reading-and-a-curiosity-to-learn-led-to-studying-medicine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How sparking a passion for reading and a curiosity to learn led to studying medicine - 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