Deputy Principal

The importance of the message of women supporting women in our context

Today, our College embraced ‘Galentines Day’. It is a day synonymous with celebrating our female friendships and the importance of a supportive sisterhood. 

When the Captains asked about how they could capture this day for their fellow students, I offered them my full support. I have had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the winds of change that are currently happening with women backing women. In 2023, I was a volunteer fleet driver at the FIFA Women’s World Cup held at cities across Australia and New Zealand. The rise of the Matildas and the way they went about the game and each other was palpable change to the narrative of the past of women dragging other women down.

In the close confines of our College boundaries, it is so important to remind our students of this ‘brand new day’ for women. I thank our Captains for their wisdom here and the importance of this message coming from them as peers. It is more than a day to dress up. It is a day to affirm that our College culture thrives when our students work with purpose to get along and cheer each other on in the classroom, on the court and from the sidelines.

It is for this reason that I urge Mums and their daughters to sign up to the College’s High Tea on Sunday, March 9th. Coinciding alongside International Women’s Day, what a wonderful way for seniors and their Mums to celebrate their milestone year or our newest students and their Mums to create new connections. Our guest speaker, Bonnie Hancock, has an important connection for our students: her bold idea to paddle around Australia’s coastline came from a library book!  Her life and success as an Ironwoman and Surf Life Saver is filled with small steps towards her goals and how she tackled the obstacles that came her way. I’m attending and cannot wait to hear her story firsthand.  Women are often reminded that ‘we cannot be what we cannot see’. What an opportunity to get our girls in front of someone who found the courage to back herself and pursue her goals.  It is not too late to RSVP, and I strongly urge you to connect with your daughter and our community at this very special event. To book, you can go here:  2025 International Women's Day High Tea - Mount Alvernia College . If you would like to listen to Bonnie’s story, the ABC has a brilliant conversation with her here: When Bonnie just kept paddling - ABC listen. Her book, The Girl Who Touched the Stars, is due to arrive at the iCentre soon.

I attended Year 7 Camp last week so missed the opportunity to witness our Academic Excellence Assembly and re-connect with our 2024 seniors who achieved an ATAR of 90 or more – the stage was at capacity! So, I took the time to watch the recording of the event on Tuesday morning.  You can watch it here:  Academic Assembly 6-2-25.mp4 . 

How wonderful to see so many students receiving a gold, silver or bronze award for academic success in Semester 2 last year.  It was Simone Roche’s speech to students that truly inspired me.  As our Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning (Acting), she took our students and guests on a journey of inspiring women who have been trailblazers in their fields and will remain in the history books forever more. I particularly liked her reference to Jo Horgan, co-CEO of Mecca Brands. I’m quite sure our students liked this as well knowing the adolescent desire for regular visits to these beauty brand stores. 

Jo Horgan, who opened her first store in Toorak, Melbourne, in 1997, has always had plans to make the whole world beautiful. Just not in the way we instinctively think. For it is not the endless pursuit of physical beauty that drives her. Her idea of beauty in the world involves the elimination of gender disparity, a desire for social justice serving others and to ensure everyone receives and understands the value of a good education.  I can’t help but align her philosophy with that of Mount Alvernia’s. At a previous International Women’s Day event, she announced a five-year partnership to sponsor a female architect or designer to create large scale works for the National Gallery of Victoria. The commissioning of the works would go some way to correcting the gender imbalance in the world of art and design. The statistics are stacked against female architects as they are the minority with only 3 of the top 100 firms run by women. The first designer, Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, was chosen as she created residential and community spaces built on values of social justice. One of Bilbao’s kitchen designs incorporates the laundry so the whole family can witness the activity of washing clothes and hopefully get involved. Washing, for most of the world, is women’s work. Bilbao wants to change that.

Horgan must have a touch of the Franciscan value of service! She speaks reverently of omotenashi, the Japanese philosophy of service. “Service is not subservient, it is a professional endeavour. Whatever you can do to make each experience exceptional, that is your gift not just to the customer but to the world. And we truly believe we are making a difference to the world.” In 2016, Horgan launched M-Power, Mecca’s charitable arm. It works with partner charities that encourage Indigenous girls to continue their education or help young women in Victoria finish their secondary studies despite adversity. Education was decided as the key lever for M-Power, because it has been proven, time and again, to be a tangible way to effect change.

It is my hope that Galentines, International Women’s Day and the many incredible female role models we have around us – whether it be seeing them in person or reading about them in books or online – remind us of how truly empowered we become when we work together and cheer each other along the way.

Every blessing for the term ahead.

Michelle Licina 

Deputy Principal Student Development and Wellbeing (Acting)