International Women's Day

Celebration, empowerment and connection were on the menu at our International Women’s Day Breakfast, which was held at the College on Wednesday 13 March.

Year 11 and 12 students and Senior School staff attending had the pleasure of hearing from special guest speaker and St Mary’s College alumna, Honor Marino (class of 2003), while enjoying a delicious spread of savoury croissants, granola, fresh fruit and hot beverages.

An audio communications and engagement professional, Honor has extensive experience as a producer and reporter at ABC Radio and the owner of Honor Marino Consulting, which specialises in helping businesses to communicate with their employees using audio. She has worked both on the mainland and overseas, but today is based in Hobart, her beloved hometown.

It was uplifting to hear Honor, who also has a background in human resources, speak so candidly about her personal journey of success, growth and self-discovery, sharing the steps she took to overcome anxiety and self-doubt, follow her intuition and ultimately, establish a new career that aligned more directly with her skills and passion.

'I thought, "what are my strengths now?" My strengths are human resources—from the old career, facilitation, and my new skill, audio. And that's when I started my new career now, as an audio consultant...and I just love it,' Honor said. 

'I'm using all the skills that I have, the skills that feel effortless, and I'm not an imposter, and I’m not competing to be as good as anyone else. I’m me. And I feel very content.'

Honor admits that if she had her time again, she would ‘listen more closely to her heart, about what it is that I really love doing, and I would have also paid more attention in Mr Thomson’s tutorials.’

The breakfast was a wonderful opportunity for our community to join together to celebrate the inspiring, resilient and trailblazing women amongst us, and we thank Honor for sharing her story with us—it truly resonated with our staff and students. 

As is tradition at St Mary’s College, International Women’s Day was marked by an all-school assembly in the Nagle Centre on Friday 8 March.

A highlight of the assembly was the latest instalment of ‘On the Couch’ (Our Prefects’ interview panel) featuring special guest, Joanne McClennan from Annie Kenney Young Women’s Emergency Accommodation Service, which the Prefects have chosen as their charity for 2024.

The not-for-profit service provides critical support for young women and women with children in Tasmania facing homelessness and in crisis situations.