Alumnae Stories

Alice Forrest (2005)

Alice Forrest is a Marine Biologist and wildlife guide with a passion for the natural world and the creatures who inhabit it. As a researcher but also a divemaster and freediver, she’s a firm believer in the need to communicate the science as well as the intrinsic value of the ocean and what’s beneath the surface.

Alice graduated from KRB in 2005 and completed a Bachelor of Science (Biodiversity & Conservation) at Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Marine & Antarctic Science (with Honours) from the University of Tasmania. Her work as a scientist has led to her finding plastic inside commonly eaten fish in French Polynesia, discovering the most plastic-polluted beach in the world on Henderson Island (Pitcairn) and studying blue whales off Sri Lanka and the deep sea off Tasmania.

Alice has worked extensively in marine tourism, guiding tourists to remote locations like Antarctica and the Arctic. Her favourite thing is watching people fall in love with nature as they snorkel with tiger sharks, kayak with dolphins, see eye-to-eye with humpback whales, or get breathed on by a minke in a Zodiac in Antarctica.

Based in the hills of Byron Bay on Australia's east coast, Alice lives in an off-grid tiny home with her partner. She attempts to live as sustainably as possible in the hope of minimising her own footprint and inspiring positive change. She writes for several publications and presents to schools, businesses and community groups on how to have a positive impact on our oceans.

Alice has been researching marine plastic pollution for a decade and to help disseminate information in an environmentally conscious form, she has written two e-books “Part of the Solution” and “Micro Plastics – Massive Problem.”

Alice has also recently been featured in a documentary called “The Power of Activism” where she and four young female activists challenge the thinking of outdated practices that are contributing to climate change. Alice and her counterparts apply their energies to shark conservations, intensive factory farming and antibiotic resistance, indigenous practices, the fight against pollution and the subsequent environmental and human health impact these issues are having.

ALUMNAE STORIES

Patricia D’Apice (1973)

Congratulations to Patricia D'Apice who received a Medal of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours this year for service to the education of people with vision impairment. Tricia is the niece of Sister Mary D’Apice rscj (deceased. RB 1939).

Tricia is a Senior Consultant and Teacher in Vision impairment at the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC). In 2021, RIDBC services were aligned under a single brand – Next Sense – to ensure the continuation of the provision of integrated, holistic care in the fields of hearing and vision loss. Next Sense is Australia’s largest non-government provider of education, therapy and cochlear implant services for children and adults with vision or hearing loss, and for their families and professionals who support them.

In recent years, Tricia and her team have been assessing existing Braille literacy rates of students across Australia. As there was limited empirical information about students’ braille reading rates, Tricia conducted an extensive survey and study of literacy and found that parents of sighted children often invest time and money into their children’s literacy, and that this was not always possible for parents of a child who is blind. Additionally, braille books are rarely, if ever, available at bookstores or local libraries and parents rarely know the braille code. To address this need, Tricia developed dAp Dots. Named after Tricia, dAp dots is a collection of braille books and braille resources that allow parents, caregivers and teachers to learn the braille code along with their children. They are designed to provide an effective foundation to braille literacy for parents and children. There are a range of “print at home” books available ranging from personalised “experience books” for preschool children, to story books and curriculum books. The high quality, literary resources created are available due to Tricia’s decades of expertise around the needs of children and their parents in learning braille.

Although the dAp Dots program is in its infancy, many children, educators and families are benefiting from the program as they learn and develop skills in the braille code.

Samara Hyde-Page (2014)

“Without the encouragement and influence from my art teacher Miss Brown at KRB, I would not be where I am today.

After graduating from KRB, I went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National Art School in Sydney, majoring in painting. I was awarded the Aboriginal Art Centre Internship for 2018 and travelled to Ernabella Arts in the Pukatja Community, at the eastern end of the Musgrave Ranges in the far north-west of South Australia. I interned at Ernabella Arts for three months and moved from an intern role to full time work as Studio Manager. Ernabella Arts is Australia’s oldest, continuously running Indigenous Art Centre. It has a population of 450 people, most of whom are Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara.

The arts centre is a dynamic place of cultural expression, empowerment, non-welfare-based income, local leadership, choice, safety, health, and wellbeing. Art centres are often the central point in a community for employment and for experimentation and creation – not only in art-making, but in Aboriginal business management, leadership, cross-cultural engagement, agency and expression.

My day-to-day jobs included canvas making, mixing paint palettes for artists, cataloguing artworks, creating a newsletter for the Art Centre, website design, taking photos of paintings and ceramics, removal of finished paintings from stretcher bars, packaging of artworks to be sent to galleries, sales of artworks, glazing and sanding of ceramics.

In April, I moved to the Northern Territory to an Aboriginal Community called Ramingining which is situated on the edge of the Arafura Swamp, to work as the Studio Manager and Cultural Facilitator. My role included arts and artist support, art centre administration, marketing and project support and facilitating and administering the Outback Spirit Tours.

In September 2022 I continued my study of a Master of Arts at the Royal College in London, majoring in painting. Following my dissertation at RCA I hope to further explore the concept of urban ruins and how they invite us to consider how humanity’s geological footprint may influence our future’s nature and culture.

After completing my studies in London, I hope to continue to work with Indigenous Art Centres as I believe it is greatly important to support places that provide autonomy, sustained growth, and stability for Aboriginal communities. They say once you’ve lived in the desert you never truly leave. I believe this to be true as I’ve found myself one way or another returning to the beautiful red dirt.”

Carrie (Zhenyi) Wang (2014)

In 2021 Carrie (Zhenyi) won the Teacher’s Guild Early Career Award which recognises the outstanding professional contribution to education made by a select group of teachers. Carrie was nominated for this award alongside five other finalists in NSW. Upon receiving this award, in an email to her teachers Carrie Scanlan, Nicola Dennis and Vicki Minton-Tanou at KRB, Carrie wrote:

“The care and support you gave me during high school have had a long-lasting effect on me as a person and as a teacher. In my written and interview phase of this award, I mentioned how amazing my high school teachers were. If it weren’t for you, I probably would never have thought to enter this field!”

Upon graduation from KRB, Carrie gained a double degree in Science (Majoring in Mathematics) and Education (Secondary) at UNSW.

Carrie works as a Year 7-12 Mathematics Teacher and in the IB program at Trinity Grammar School. She is also the Master in Charge (MIC) of the Chess Club where she organises and hosts Chess competitions and training sessions. She leads activities in the Debating and Mathematics Clubs at Trinity. Carrie also supports teachers to integrate effectively into the Trinity school environment through mentoring in the Maths faculty. In her nomination application for the Teacher’s Guild Early Career Award, Carrie explained her decision to become a teacher:

"I was born and raised in China. Growing up, my parents had always emphasised to me the difference between a job and a career. Education is my career. I moved to Australia at the age of 15, and during high school, I was fortunate to be inspired by some of the most amazing educators I’ve met. At the end of Year 12, I achieved Dux of School and First in State for English as a Second Language. When everyone expected me to enter Medicine or Law, I chose Education, because I wanted to give back what I had been gifted. During university, I achieved Distinctions and High Distinctions for all my courses and won the Dean’s List award every year for my degree.

Education is about shaping young minds and fostering character, nurturing curiosity, creativity and passion and equipping students with communication, research and to prepare problem-solving skills. I strive to be an inspiring teacher and work with my colleagues to make our profession better, so that people will aspire to become one of us as well.”