Deputy Principal

ADVICE FOR LIFE

On Friday 10 March, our Year 12 Captains attended a Student Leadership Soiree (coinciding with International Women’s Day) during which they got to connect with the Captains from other Catholic girls’ schools and hear from speaker Jessie McLachlan, 31 year old CEO and Co-Founder of charity Altru that works to enhance the lives of the underprivileged in the community. Jessie shared her story with the students in which she touched on the time she spent in the US leading up to COVID-19 where she set up a carnival for the homeless called the “Skid Row Carnival of Love”, which saw the beginning of Altru. She also spoke about her childhood and some of the challenges she faced growing up, her love for music and her work in the music industry, and her career as a doctor which took on new meaning when she became unwell while living in the US and was faced with huge medical bills. It was actually the prospect of paying these medical bills that gave her an even deeper appreciation for how easy it is for someone to slip between the cracks.

It was clear from the moment Jessie began speaking just how many strings she has to her bow – she even took flying lessons at some point in her 31 years – however it was her self-confidence and her self-belief that for me was the most impressive thing about her and what made her such a good role model for our young women, in fact for all of us women in the room. And in the course of her address to the students, she had some great pearls of wisdom which I have taken and turned into “advice for life” and have shared here:

• Work ethic and discipline are important.
• Try and turn challenges into superpowers.
• Being of service is the rent that we pay for being here on earth.
• Feel the fear and do it anyway – this the spirit of a survivor.
• Take a moral inventory from time-to-time.
• Caution – Don’t trade authenticity for validation.
• Failure strips away the inessentials.
• Put an expiration date on any blame you have – learn to park it.
• Your will to create must be stronger than your fear of judgement.
• The most important house you’ll ever live in is the one in your head – make it nice.
• We make ourselves small to fit in; we shouldn’t!
• You are the company you keep.
• We rise by lifting others up.
• Have a deep understanding and realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and as complex as your own.
• Go out in the world and challenge it.
• Don’t wait for eventually.
• Seek a mentor.
• Feed your soul not your ego.
• The effect you have on others is your social currency.
• Without commitment, you will never start; without consistency, you will never finish.
• Ease is the greatest threat to progress.
• You are what you repeatedly do.
• Grounding is a great technique.
• Pray every day.
• You have to trust, and have faith.
• Don’t compare yourself to others.
• Move your body.
• We all have a need to feel safe.
• Prioritise exercise.
• Choose wisely.

She finished with a quote which I also really liked:

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” 

(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

YEAR 10 HOUSE CAPTAINS

Keeping with the theme of student leadership, this week I had the great pleasure of presenting the Year 10 House Captains with their badges. It has been a long time coming but these six students have already been “doing” leadership, having attended the Halogen Leadership Conference, along with the Year 11 Captains and some Year 8 representatives, and they have been working alongside their respective House Captains and their Heads of House to build House spirit and connection.

23 students applied for these positions and each of these students could have ably represented their House. It is great to have such depth of leadership in this cohort and I look forward to seeing what they can achieve in the future. As well as completing the Raise the Bar Booklet, the students went through an interview process, so it was quite rigorous.

So, on that note, congratulation to the following students, who are authentic and have integrity, and are great ambassadors for the school and for their House:

Bell Prairie House Captain: Lizzie

Greccio House Captain: Zoe

Rieti House Captain: Amaeh 

Perugia House Captain: Lara

Spoleto House Captain: Chelsea 

Villa Spada House Captain: Hannah

Leadership, the development of leadership skills and leadership opportunities are all important, and this is something I will speak to the students more about at the start of next term. We are currently reviewing the leadership program and making some tweaks to better align it with our House system. In the meantime, we are all interested to see the students’ leadership potential, including active participation, their ability to take initiative, their willingness to speak up and speak out, and being able to be a student voice.