Alumni News
Freda Wright celebrates her 50th year of teaching
This year, MFG teacher and Careers Co-ordinator, Mrs Freda Wright celebrates her 50th year of teaching.
Freda has had a profound impact on many MFG students' lives whilst they were a student at the college and beyond.
I have lost count of how many times alumni have mentioned and given thanks to Freda; naming her as the person that encouraged them to pursue a particular pathway. What is even more amazing is Freda's incredible ability to remember the names and faces of alumni that she bumps into in the local community and/or return to the college.
Congratulations, Freda on what has been a wonderful career in public education!
To commemorate this impressive milestone, 2020 college leaders put together a montage which includes alumni reflecting on the impact Freda has had on them. To view the video, visit the MFG Alumni Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/mfgsc8022alumni
Thank you: Ashley Hall, Claudia Kelly, Shimona Norman and Marie Petz for taking the time to record a 'selfie video' and contributing to a montage of memories.
If you are an alumna of MFG, please reach out! alumni@mfgsc.vic.edu.au
I can't wait to be able to open the college doors to you again next year and have you return to continue to inspire and open the students' eyes to the endless possibilities of life beyond secondary school.
Ourschool Industry Insights Series
Session #1 with guest speakers
from Peter Mac
At the end of Term 2, Ourschool, in collaboration with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, hosted their first 2020 live-stream. The live session, involving predominately Year 10 students, showcased health, allied health and medical pathways that exist within the world-class cancer research, education, and treatment centre.
Hundreds of students from across Victoria, including 11 MFG students, tuned in to hear from an amazing panel consisting of six Peter Mac staff, also alumni of the state secondary schools involved in the Ourschool Program.
Gracing the panel was MFG alumna and Peter Mac Nurse Unit Manager, Amy Haffenden, from the class of ’99. Amy believes that past teachers would describe her as ‘very social’, ‘very talkative’ and ‘easily distracted’, but credited these traits to pursuing a career in nursing, ‘It’s a very social job. The best part is working in a team to achieve amazing goals, helping patients.”
Students asked questions about the various career pathways staff took, the realities of the wide range of roles they hold today and what they enjoy so much, every day, about their chosen professions working at Peter Mac.What an inspirational session for students who, at the time, were making course selections.
A huge thank you to the panelists (especially Amy!) who contributed to helping so many students understand different pathways.
Session #2 with guest speakers from KPMG
On Friday 9th October, Ourschool hosted their second Industry Insights Session featuring alumni and friends of Ourschool who work at KPMG, Australia.
Public high school students, including students from MFG, with an interest in business, management and accounting pathways, were able to hear about jobs in business and the professional services industry, helping broaden their thinking about different post-school pathways.Each speaker talked a bit about their school days, and then spent time describing their pathways into the workforce, noting the job they do now. Some of the speakers pursued business and commerce degrees, whilst others completed a science and aerospace engineering degree. The speakers each came from very different backgrounds culturally and geographically – two from regional Victoria, one from Adelaide and another from Thailand!
The speakers are working in very different areas of KPMG which collectively represent auditing, risk, tax, enterprise, management, finance, engineering, and asset management. Some speakers completed an internship which helped with their job prospects, and interestingly all but one speaker completed exchange overseas during university years. Suffice to say, there were many discussion points which, no doubt, informed and inspired students!
Session #3 with guest speakers from Multiplex
Laying the foundations...Friday a week ago, Ourschool hosted their third (and final) Industry Insights Session with an enthusiastic panel of five employees of the global construction company, Multiplex. The session was aimed at Year 10 students seeking careers in the building and construction industry and it didn’t disappoint!For students at MFG to have access to such informed and engaging individuals, explaining their day-to-day work, and identifying different jobs that support those ‘on the tools’ e.g. finance, IT and HR, was a genuine privilege. The speakers also provided insight into TAFE courses, urged students to ask for help and encouraged them to embrace city and interstate opportunities. It was also an opportunity for students at MFG to hear about women working in the industry and learn about what a cadetship is and key terminology such as, 'tender'. Our students are better off learning the specifics to truly understand the industry.
If you missed viewing one of the live streams, why not access the recording?
Given some students and classes missed out on viewing the livestreams, Ourschool has made a recording of each session available to the MFG community until the end of Term 4.
Staff are welcome to show the session to their classes, whilst students (and parents) interested in the aforementioned topics and pathways are encouraged to contact me via email (alumni@mfgsc.vic.edu.au) for the link and password to the recorded sessions.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Tanja Dunat Timms
MFG Alumni Program Manager
